Last year November, volleyball returned to action after receiving P200, 000 sponsorship from Liquid Intelligent Technologies. The same company was expected to come on board again, and it was already included in the BVF calendar. The tournament was to run from November 4 with the finals set for November 26. The Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) president, Tsoseletso Magang told MmegiSport that Liquid Intelligent Technologies informed them that they are not able to assist this year due to financial constraints. Despite the setback, Magang said they cannot sit back but they have to play on.
“We need volleyball activity and we cannot just sit back because we are not securing financial support. We are hoping that as potential sponsors see that we are active, they will be motivated to come on board,” she said. Magang said they are still engaging potential sponsors and will not stop until they secure funding for volleyball activities. Meanwhile, the BVF vice president-administration, Ndibo Lebala, said the upcoming Volleyball Golden Cup would occupy the same slot that was reserved for the Liquid Intelligent Technologies tournament. “We named the tournament Golden Cup so that when a sponsor comes onboard, it will be easy to pick up the name,” he said. Regarding the tournament sponsorship, Lebala said at the beginning of the year, Liquid Intelligent Technologies had agreed that they will be available to sponsor the tournament, and that they should be slotted in November. “But they wrote to us saying they will not manage. We could not stop action because players have gained momentum after playing the BVF Mascom tournament. They played knowing they will be having another tournament. After playing for five weeks, then we play another two weeks, that will make volleyball visible and be able to attract sponsors,” he said.
