Preparations for Botswana Cup are said to be progressing well, following numerous training sessions that players are engaging in prior to the cup. The competition, which is hoped to promote the image of table tennis and create flagship championships in the country will be hosted by the Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) next weekend.
“Most clubs have since engaged in massive training in preparation for the cup. A majority of the players train at University of Botswana and others go to Roads Training Centre for their sessions,” said BTTA Tournament organiser, Rorisang Raesima.
The competition is expected to attract other tennis players from the Southern African region and will be held at St Josephs College Multipurpose Hall from the 27th ÔÇô 28th March 2010 in Gaborone.
Raesima stated that the cup will be an Open competition and during the championships, only table tennis clubs duly registered, affiliated and subscribed fully to the BTTA for the year 2009 ÔÇô 2010 will participate in the event and national teams from BOPRISA, BISA, BOBSA, BOTESSA, PASSOBO, and Special Olympics are also eligible for participation.
Further there will be men and women singles, group stage and single knockout with unlimited entries.
Raesima noted that Group Stage and Single Knockout will be used if there are more than 64 registered players, otherwise double Knockout will be adopted.
For doubles and mixed doubles, they will also be single knockout with unlimited entries. Raesima also explained that February 2010 ranking results will be used to seed players onto the tournament ladder. Tournament results will be used to add to the BTTA tournament ranking results.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Tournament Referees handbook will be adopted.
All matches will be officiated by the ITTF umpires. The cup is also anticipated to attract local and international attention for the benefit of development with regards to level of play.
In addition, BTTA will this weekend send a team of players to battle it out at the 2010 WITS Open that will be held at the Wits University Squash Complex in Johannesburg, South Africa. High ranking table tennis players are expected to grace the event. The format of play will be The Fours and Twos, all in groups of four for round robin, then top two in each group join a “winners’ ladder.
The bottom two from each group also join a “non-winners’ ladder.
Entry fee for singles will be P40 whilst doubles will be P20. Further, the tournament is expected to be good preparation initiative for the Gaborone Open to be played next weekend.
