Netballers have much to celebrate this year

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Wednesday December 22, 2010 00:00

 

BoNA president, Tebogo Lebotse was in July elected president of the newly formulated African netball governing body. Lebotse's duties entailed organising regional tournaments and coaching courses. Her immediate task was to organise an Africa Netball World Cup qualifying tournament that was meant to select two African countries that are going to take part in the Netball World Cup to be held in Singapore next July. Lebotse staged a successful tournament in Pretoria, South Africa, where Botswana and the hosts qualified.  Botswana came second after South Africa in the qualifiers but Lebotse is optimistic that with more international exposure, Botswana stands a better chance of winning the World Cup.

Locally, the annual BoNA league was splashed with a whopping P1.2 million three-year contract by Spar. Spar displaced car dealership, Motor Centre, which had sponsored the league since 2001.

Motor Centre later welcomed BoNA's proposal that they instead sponsor the national team.

The inaugural Spar 'Good for You' league was however not as exciting as one may have anticipated considering its funding. BoNA's biggest mistake was combining top performing and below par teams in the premier league.

Despite the P1.2 million Pula boost, Lebotse said 'the league hasn't been what it used to be because we dissolved our first division due to financial constraints'. This, however, disrupted the league as amateur teams would at times forfeit games, and had a propensity of being walkovers for the high flyers. BoNA have since considered reviewing their league structure at their 2011 annual general meeting (AGM) to accommodate two, if not three divisions.

Meanwhile, the semi-finals and finals of the Spar league proved exciting although teams fielded were regular top four sides. Netball giants and favourites to win, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Cats were denied a final spot by less-fancied Notwane in the semi-finals, forcing them into a third-place finish after beating the University of Botswana (UB) Crystals in the losers' final. This was the first time in more than a decade Cats had not featured in the finals.

Otherwise, regular finalists, Tasc, became the first side to win the Spar league bagging P15, 000 and taking home a floating trophy in the process. Their runners-up were Notwane who had not tasted the finals in more than a decade. UB Crystals finished fourth.

Outstanding netballers this year were national team captain Portia Rasekhumba, who emerged the best attacker and fourth best accurate shooter in the Africa qualifiers, and her national team mate and Tasc player, the towering shooter, Violet Moabi, who was outstanding throughout the Spar league.