Heartbreak for table tennis stars

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Friday September 10, 2010 00:00

Botswana’s top table tennis players had initially been told that they would represent the country in the Commonwealth Games.  However, the Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) announced that they will not travel to New Delhi because they did not make the cut. The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) indicated that for the players to be eligible, they should have won individual medals at Zone VI Championships and be ranked in the top 20 in Africa. 

BTTA president, Robert Maabong, said that the non-participation in the Commonwealth Games is a complicated matter.

“It is a complicated matter. Apparently, there were standards set because we were expected to send players with individual medals at Zone VI level.

The player also has to be in the top 20 in Africa but BNOC wanted to send medal prospects,” he explained. There are only 14 Africans in the top 500 international men’s rankings. Overmeyer Shane of South Africa is the only Southern African player in the list. Bonolo Mabote is Botswana’s top player although he is not ranked internationally.

Meanwhile, Botswana’s top table tennis players, Boitshwarelo Butale and Mabote visited the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa on Sunday, courtesy of G4S South Africa.

The two believe that with such exposure, they will excel at international level after matching their South African opponents in a mini-tournament in Atteredgeville last weekend.

Mabote believes that they should participate in major tournaments for exposure and to improve their rankings.“Obviously one can only improve their rankings by taking part in competitions like this. I was looking forward to participating in the Commonwealth Games,” he said. Butale echoed similar sentiments.

 “I was so happy when I was told I was part of the team but I’ve just been told I will not be going and it’s so disappointing because I saw the games as a big break. But the reasons for not sending us to the games are beyond my control because they mentioned something about ITTF rankings.” 

Maabong questioned the logic behind talking about rankings when the players are not given a chance to participate in international tournaments. “How are you expected to be ranked when you don’t participate in international tournaments?”