A secondary school student, Tawana Maja from Jwaneng was voted player of the tournament after holding his own against seasoned bowlers drawn from across the country. Mascarenhas believes young bowlers like Maja should be given a chance in the national team to garner necessary experience. Besides Maja, Bonney Fox, Pauline Lekone, both from Gaborone, and Nellie Senna performed above themselves at the 10-day championship. Lekone has represented Botswana at international level.
Gase Pabalelo, who represented Botswana at the World Championship in New Zealand this year, put up a sterling performance as she went all the way to the semi-finals in the ladies' singles. "This shows that the experience she garnered in New Zealand is paying off. In the next event, she might go all the way to the final," Mascarenhas said. She said it was unfortunate the upcoming players belonged to different clubs and as such there was no way to monitor them constantly. "If these players can come together then we have a good team. We hope that Tawana's exploits will encourage other youngsters to take up the sport," she said, adding that bowls has largely been viewed as a sport for adults. Mascarenhas said the talented youngsters are expected to form the backbone of the Botswana national team in future.
