09 Feb 2015

Botswana Bridge Federation (BBF) has assembled a team of four players to represent the country at an international teams’ tournament in France in November.

The all-male team comprises Amantle Ramoseki, Mbakisi Malilo, Tebogo Kubanji and Thatayotlhe Maele. They were identified after a one-day selection tournament at the University of Botswana on Saturday.

The federation had invited 17 pairs of players to compete for the slots in the national team and after some tough matches, the best two pairs were determined using overall results from the tournament. The pair of Ramoseki and Malilo won the tournament with an overall score of 63.89 per cent, while Kubanji and Maele finished second with 63.39 per cent.

Women narrowly failed to make the cut after three pairs of female payers managed to finish in positions three, four and five. BBF president, Letsogile Mafa, said players who participated in the selection tournament were drawn from tertiary schools and out of school pool of players.

He explained that the federation attempted to invite best performers from last year’s schools tournaments, but the youngsters failed to turn up because of situations the federation couldn’t control.

“The turn up for the selection tournament was very good and we were happy with the overall level of competition. We have identified a resident coach who is going to monitor performances of the team before they leave for France, said Mafa.

Mafa said his federation would be taking part at the tournament, in the French capital Paris, at the invitation of the French Bridge Federation which would sponsor all expenses of the trip. The tournament is open to players under the age of 25 and Botswana will be represented for the second time, after also participating two years ago.

To prepare the team, Mafa said they would engage a coaching expert who would drill the team between now and November. Again, he said they intend to enter the team at some bridge tournaments in South Africa to expose it to high level competition. ends