The Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday at Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC)’s warm up area in Gaborone. The purpose of the meeting is to update affiliates on progress made and challenges encountered during the last year; and also to map the way forward in development of the association.
BTTA has set its eyes on promoting table tennis through provision of facilities and establishing table tennis as the fastest growing sport in Botswana; available to everyone for health, leisure and excellence at the highest level of competition. BTTA President Lesego Master Maifala said they will also be auditing their finances and assessing the positives and negatives that the association came across.
“We had set goals for ourselves at the beginning of the year 2015. We had our general objectives and pillars that we managed to achieve, though we are still facing some challenges,” he said.
Introducing table tennis at primary school level was at the forefront of BTTA’s 2015 to-do list. The objective was to introduce the sport at grass roots level and revive BTTA’s long neglected development structures. Maifala added that after the AGM the association will roll out its 2016 strategic plan to affiliates and also share ideas on how to take the association to the next level and improve table tennis standards in Botswana.
“We are confident that the BNSC will continue to assist us financially looking at our previous performance on and off the field. We had a fruitful year and we want to do much better this year,” said the BTTA boss.
This will be BTTA’s first AGM since the new executive assumed office in 2014. The association has been kept busy by a series of continental and international tournaments.
“Just like any other association we are also facing the same challenge of lack of funds that hinder our progress. However we are happy that we managed to reach a majority of areas in the country. We also held a high level umpire and coaches course last year which was a major achievement. The aim is to set up proper structures in all four corners of the country,” said Maifala.
