Chaotic Start To Pingpong Tourney

Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Monday February 13, 2017 15:45

The tournament also featured the mixed teams on Sunday. Ramahobo said some of his club’s executive members who organised the two-day event, came up with all sorts of excuses ahead of the tournament. “It is really disappointing because we are the hosts. We have to make a decision now as to whether we hand this club to the new generation to run because clearly we are not doing things right,” he said. Ramahobo said one of the committee members had promised to supply water for the players at the tournament but came up with excuses at the last minute. “Imagine if we had the likes of Under-14 categories in the tournament. We will be having problems now because kids at that age need very good care. They have to find everything in order,” he said.

Ramahobo said a decision has to be made whether New Horizon discontinues as a club or not but added that it will be catastrophic since there are only six active clubs in Botswana. He also expressed disappointment at the fact that they had sent invitations to the Umpires and Referees Committee, but they did not respond. “It is disappointing but there is nothing we can do because there are no rules that bind these umpires from taking part in such tournaments. But overall I am happy with the response from players.

We have seen new faces who are not registered with any clubs. So this is an opportunity for clubs to watch and sign these new players,” he said. He also said he is happy that the Botswana Table Tennis Association assisted by providing the venue for free.

“Ours was just to clean up the venue and ensure that it is in a condition that is playable. I am also happy that we managed to retain the pool of players who took part in last year’s event,” he said.