Rebatenne Soars As Mabote Falters

Kabelo Boranabi | Monday March 27, 2017 15:48

The tournament, reserved for players who are in the Botswana Table Tennis Association’s  (BTTA)top 16 rankings, did not disappoint as it dished out the expected excitement. In the women’s section, Rebatenne and Butale had a rather easier task reaching the final of the tournament.

Butale ran rampant over Olorato Ramagapu as she won 4-0 while Rebatenne easily booked her spot in the final with a 4-2 win over Salome Matlhatsi. In the final, Rebatenne got the better of her opponent as she won 4-2 to walk away with the P1,200 prize money.

“I’m happy that I have won especially against such a tough opponent as Boitshwarelo. I have been struggling with my forehand which I think was her stronger area thus she gave me all sort of troubles,” Rebatenne told Sport Monitor after the game.

She also said she was happy to end the season as the top ranked player and wants to achieve the same feat next season.

The men’s section provided nothing but surprises as the top ranked players were booted out in the early stages of the competition.

Bonolo Mabote crashed out in the group stages as he finished last in his group with with only two points, while the country’s number two player Thobo Matlhatsi was knocked out in the quarter finals as he struggled with a back injury.

Tiro Lesomo emerged the winner of the tourney after beating Joseph Kgatlampane 4-3 in an intense final. Kgatlampane showed early intentions of winning the title as he easily won the first set 12-4.

He however failed to get grip of the game as he allowed Lesomo to come back by winning the second and third quarters, forcing the experienced star to chase.

With both players being punished from their own mistakes, the game went in to seventh set where Lesomo got the better of his opponents winning 13-11.

The runners up took home P800 while the semi-finalists pocketed P350 each. This was the last tournament of the 2016/2017 season with the next season expected to start late April.