30 Nov 2015

Botswana’s readiness to host the World Netball Youth Cup in 2017 was on Sunday (November 29) put to the test by the International Netball Federation (INF) which examined various sporting and accommodation facilities.

Led by Botswana Netball Association (BONA) president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego an entourage of world netball heads put Botswana’s indoor sporting facilities under the microscope to examine every detail in order to ensure competent delivery of the games. With roughly 18 months before the games begin, the delegates examined components such as proximity of accommodation facilities to the playing fields.

They examined details to the finest end such as availability of standard netball playing fields and their quantity, change rooms and their quantity, field entrance points, availability of rest rooms, availability of anti-doping facilities,  availability of security points, tickets points, Kiosk points, lighting, details such as VIP areas amongst many others.

The delegate toured the University of Botswana indoor sporting facility, Ditshupo Hall as areas where games will be played. 

They visited accommodation facilities such as Oasis Hotel in Tlokweng, Indaba Hotel and Regent Hotel to inspect the statuses and their readiness to accommodate 20 countries which will be participating in the games. 

“The University of Botswana facility is very impressive, as for Ditshupo Hall more needs to be done to bring it to the right standard if we were to use it, nevertheless the accommodation facilities that we’ve seen so far are suitable,” said the president of INF, Molly Rhone in an interview.

The international netball president said the games would be played over nine days, and that the single field available at the University of Botswana indoor facility would not suffice hence the need to work on improving other facilities in order to contain the large numbers. 

Furthermore, she said as per international standards, the game was played on the “sprung wooden floor,” adding that there was need to replace the floors at the UB facility as well as at Ditshupo Hall. “This is international best practice which I bet will leave a lasting legacy for Botswana,” she said.

The federation’s technical delegate, Elizabeth Broomhead said she appreciated the government of Botswana for working in conjunction with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to ensure the successful delivery of the 2017 Netball Youth Cup.

“I am extremely impressed so far by the UB facility and the good working relations between the government and the LOC. They seem to be up to the challenge. 

However, there are challenges of shortage of indoor sporting facilities which I believe they will work to sort out,” she said.

“In the world netball rankings, there are more African countries in the top 35, and I strongly believe that the move by INF to allow Botswana to host the world cup will further boost the game in Africa. 

This is a first for Africa as it is the first time a netball world cup would be hosted in Africa,” she said. 

In an interview BONA president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego said the tour was meant to identify the shortcomings and work towards resolving them beforehand. 

“On accommodation, our accommodation team has begun to identify those we can partner with,” she said.

She said for the Netball 2017 Youth World Cup, BONA has prepared a budget of P30 million, (without facilities)  and that they were working round the clock to get sponsors in order to meet the budget and successfully deliver the world cup.  

Further Lebotse-Sebego said she intents to involve other African countries in the games, “this is a first for Africa, there is need to involve Africa in the games,” she said. Ends