26 Nov 2015

A team of two Badminton players will be competing at the 2015 Zambia International Badminton Championships in Lusaka.

The male duo of Gaone Tawana and Tlholego Chamo are battling it out with their counterparts from South Africa and Zambia  in a tournament that started yesterday. The tournament will end on Sunday. 

Chamo left Botswana on Tuesday to Lusaka while Tawana was to meet with the team in Zambia from Dublin, Ireland where he has been in training for the last 3 months.

The public relation officer of Botswana Badminton Association (BBA) Modisaotsile Badubi said they were happy with the preparations for the tournament.

“We are happy that the preparations went well, and we believe the boys will represent the country very well in Zambia,” he said before they left for the tournament.

He said Tawana who is training in Ireland, will be ready since he will be going to the competitions fresh from the high performance centre.
As for Chabo, Badubi said his training was well organised. He said the technical team made a good schedule for the player to sharpen his skills.

He said as part of his preparations they organised and hosted a local championship at St Joseph’s College.

He said the player fared well, though he came second due to a slight injury . They eventually advised him to pull out during a final match he was playing. He said they were later advised that  the ankle injury was just a slight scare which will not bar him from competing in Zambia.

However he noted that they had challenges to send the women team to Zambia due to their school schedules which clashed with the competition calendar.

“It is unfortunate that some players did not manage to pitch for the competitions. Our female players that is Botho Makubate and Tebogo Ndzinge will not travel with the team,” said Badubi.

He emphasised the importance of the competitions, saying theywill help players accumulate points depending on which stage the players reach.

He explained  that the points will be added to the player’s world rankings, and this will be used as qualifying tool for the World Series events.

“To qualify for the World Series events a player should be at a certain position on the world rankings and the same applies to Olympics,” he said.

However, he said he has confidence in the players based on the preparations and promised Batswana a medal. Botswana will host the championships on December 10 at Lobatse Sports Complex. Ends