Debswana gives Ostriches P1.5m for CAF games
Koketso Kgoboge | Thursday February 9, 2017 18:00
The money is meant to cover costs for the two-legged tie against Swallows, with the Ostriches hosting the visitors in the first leg in Francistown this weekend.
The return leg will be played in Lobamba, Swaziland. Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtsha mine general manager, Bakani Mothabani praised Orapa United for the rise to stardom on the local scene. “We look back with pride of having supported Orapa United. It has given us so much back in terms of mileage and entertainment. We don’t have to travel out of town anymore because we have nothing to do. We now look forward to the next game,” he said at the sponsorship launch yesterday.
“We encourage the team to continue representing us well while they go out chasing for trophies and not to forget the league and the Mascom Top 8 so that we can look forward to another exciting final,” Mothabani said.
Club chairperson, Thatayaone Sithole said participating in continental club competitions has always been their plan. However, he acknowledged it has not been a smooth sailing particularly in terms of securing funds.
He appreciated the gesture from the diamond mining company. “It is quite expensive and we are grateful for the support from the Debswana Mine. We now know why other teams did not participate in the continental games before. We have already spent around P600,000 on logistics before our weekend game,” Sithole said. “We have grown strong and along the way we have beat many teams, some considered unbeatable. We have reached the twilight and we believe we can go out and shine and be good ambassadors of the Boteti region.”
Confident Orapa coach, Madinda Ndlovu assured they would not disappoint. He said they had studied their opponents and preparations are ongoing. He said the fact that they have not been given a target has released pressure but as the technical team and the players they have set their own target.
“We are a very ambitious side, so ambitious that sometimes we become ruthless because we want to win more. The players are aware of what they want and we are not under any pressure. We have set our own goals and we are not only participating but we are going to leave a mark in the CAF competition,” Ndlovu said.