Badminton tournament for Lobatse

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Friday August 30, 2013 00:00

He said the main aim of the tournament is to honour a former Hurricanes player, Makhula Makhula who died in a car accident in 2003. He reeveled that the deceased won the Barloworld Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) award for team of the year (doubles) together with Oreeditse Thela in 2002.  Makhula also represented Botswana at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom where he won a bronze medal.

Madzambi said the tournament is held every year to remember and honour Makhula.He noted that the Botswana Badminton Association is using the tournament  to identify players who can represent the country at international level.  'The registration fee for singles is P75 and P50 each for players in the doubles, which will also include mixed doubles. We want to see badminton generating interest among the youth, and we want to see new players joining the sport,' said Madzambi.   He noted that some of the funds that will be raised during the tournament will be used to assist the Makhula family, especially a child he left in its infancy. He explained that they chose to have the event in Lobatse because of the spacious hall at the sports complex. He called upon companies and other stakeholders to support them as they strive to groom young badminton players.  Madzambi said if they get enough support, they intend to take the tournament to other parts of the country. He pointed out that the tournament is sponsored by the founding members of the club who contribute towards expenses of staging the games and prizes.

He observed that the sport used to be visible in the past but now it appears to have been overtaken by other sporting codes.  He stated that the tournament could have been held during this coming weekend but had to be pushed to a later date as they were still finalising some logistics.  Hurricanes club was formed in 1998 in the village of Zwenshambwe by a group of 10 associates who are now scattered in different parts of the country due to work commitments.They only meet for the annual tournament before dispersing to their respective stations.These founding members are Kunyalala Mphinyane, Gift Steven, Oarabile Manyatsa, Madzambi, Thela, Tumelo Gaothobogwe, Boitshepo Mmusi, Pearl Gonga, Chawa Ndlovu and Precious Chalashike.