BTA Suffers Grant Cut

Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 25, 2018 13:41

 

This was revealed at the BTA annual general meeting (AGM) held on Saturday in Gaborone.  Khaulani Fichani told Monitor Sport on the sidelines of the meeting that the grant cut is a challenge. 

“When you come with a budget and you get the amount you wanted, it means you would achieve the projects that you have budgeted for.  We did not expect the figure we wanted, but at the same time we did not expect to get the same amount as last year,” he said.

Fichani said now that they got the same amount as last year, they should prioritise. He said they should now double their efforts to find sponsors and partners. He said by next year they expect to have made some progress. He said they want to make good proposals to potential sponsors.

“My team is busy with that as we speak. Finding sponsorship for BTA could in different ways be like bidding to host ITF/CAT tournaments. Those tournaments come fully funded,” he said.

Fichani said they are struggling to find big sponsors, but in the beginning of the year they signed with a certain company. The association used to be divided with members calling for the removal of the former president, Nelson Amanze.

Fichani said the situation has now calmed down. “It is always a struggle to separate a pre-elections period, elections and what happens after a new committee has been elected. It took us a while for us to start pulling together as a team. We are now at a point where every member is pulling his or her weight behind BTA,” he said.

He said they have come up with a strategy to develop tennis in the country.  Fichani said the meeting was meant to make constitutional amendments.  He said they want the constitution to align with the

Olympic cycle. “The other thing was to instil financial discipline. Our financial statements have been audited. In the past there were suspicions as to what was happening with the money,” he said. The meeting also dealt with policies to guide the executive committee and BTA affiliates.