Zim unrest threatens volleyball tourney
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday November 16, 2017 14:17
Local volleyball teams, BDF VI, Police VI on the men’s side, Kutlwano and Kalavango (women), are supposed to travel to Zimbabwe to represent Botswana at the regional competition.
Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) vice president-technical, George Keotsenye yesterday said they will monitor the situation in Zimbabwe. He said at the moment there are no changes to the hosting arrangement.
Kalavango coach, Isaac Thenjelani told Mmegi Sport that they have not received any communication regarding Zone VI hosting arrangements. He said at the moment all they know is that Zimbabwe will host the championship.
Meanwhile, the newly launched JB Sports tournament moves to Molepolole this weekend. The women’s teams are expected to battle it out for the title. The women’s category will see teams move straight to the semi-finals after the preliminaries, instead of the quarter finals.
Keotsenye said they hope the preliminaries will end on Saturday to pave way for the semi-finals the following day.“The finals for the tournament are next weekend together with the men’s. We want them to be played in Gaborone. We are currently trying to secure a venue,” he said.
One of the interesting fixtures in Group A is between youthful side, Dynamites and BDF. Dynamites would then take on Kalavango in the second match.
Thenjelani said his players are going to use the weekend tournament as preparations for Zone VI. He said it has been a long barren year due to the absence of the league and that has affected the fitness of players.
“Players are rusty, but we are banking on the weekend tournament to shape up,” he said.
Mafolofolo and Kutlwano are in Group B. Kutlwano kick off their campaign against MagStimela.
Kutlwano coach, Dopp Popo said they have been preparing for the tournament and the intention is to give young players a chance and see how far they can go.
“Players are unfit due to the league absence. We are also taking the same players to Zone VI as a way of giving them exposure,” Popo said.
For his part, Mafolofolo coach, Kabo Ntshinogang said he does not know what to expect from his players because they have not been training for many months. Ntshinogang said they started training a fortnight ago. Despite that, he said his usual starting six would be present.
JB Sports tournament fixtures
POOL A:
Kalavango vs Selebi-Phikwe
BDF vs Dynamites
Dynamites vs Kalavango
Selebi-Phikwe vs BDF
Dynamites vs Selebi-Phikwe
Kalavango vs BDF
POOL B:
Kutlwano vs MagStimela
Mafolofolo vs Spiking Stars
Yaros vs Kutlwano
Mafolofolo vs MagStimela
Spiking Stars vs Yaros
Kutlwano vs Spiking Stars
Mafolofolo vs Yaros
Spiking Stars vs MagStimela
Yaros vs MagStimela
Kutlwano vs Mafolofolo