Locals upstage foreigners in pool tourney

Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday October 9, 2018 15:00

 

The local players demoted foreign players to insignificant positions. Lesego Thapa won the men’s championship and walked away with P10,000. Phaki Moribola scooped the second prize of P5,000, Vincent Tuka finished third to pocket P1,000 while Milton Banda received P500 for finishing fourth.

The women’s challenge winner, Keamogetse Mokobi walked away P8,000 richer. Onalenna Jenamo was second and won herself P4,000. Gofaone Kesitegile finished third and pocketed P1,000 with P500 going to Boineelo Moleofi who was fourth.

The women's winner, Mokobi said she started playing pool in 2014 through a mobile phone game.

“I got addicted to it so I decided to go for the real thing. I used to play at the bus rank where I taught myself how to hold the cue stick,” she said.

Mokobi said she has not been playing for two months and when she learnt about the Blackball Rule Challenge, she decided to take part. “I practiced for a few days before the tournament. The tournament was tough but I stuck to my game plan until the end. Pool needs passion and concentration,” she said.

Mokobi encouraged more women to play pool. “It is unfortunate that it is played in bars. Security is of importance. You should always have somebody to look after you,” Mokobi said.

Tournament organiser, Marang Morolong of Eden Hut Limited told Mmegi Sport that it was the biggest one-day international event they have ever hosted.

“In August, we held our debut tournament at Trekkers night club, which attracted 78 players but this weekend the number went up to 106. That is 78 men and 28 women. We had a woman from Zimbabwe, three men from South Africa and another man from Zambia. We also had some men from Zimbabwe,” he said.

Morolong said all along foreigners have always dominated, but there was a change this time around. He said it is an indication of growth and local players are learning from their foreign counterparts.

However, he said, there were challenges, and they need to learn from them.

“Preparations for the tournament did not go according to plan. The sponsor did not give us much room to be in charge of the event and that made it difficult for us to run the event,” he said.

He said the other challenge was the late arrival of players, forcing a late start. Meanwhile, Morolong said it is difficult to dissociate pool games from bars. He said the same trend happens even in countries where the sport is played professionally.