06 Feb 2017

About 13 pairs of contract bridge players have made the cut into the penultimate camp of the mind game as part of the process to select a team that would represent the country at the ninth African Bridge Championships.

The biennial event is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Cape Town in South Africa in May.

Speaking on the sidelines of the tournament on Saturday, Botswana Bridge Federation (BBF) publicity secretary, Mbakisi Malilo said they had hosted successful national team trial selection tournament, which was divided into open and ladies section.

In the open section, six pairs have been picked for the camp, where after careful assessment three pairs would make the cut to represent Botswana at the tournament.

The same applies to the ladies category which was not represented in the last edition of the tournament held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in 2015.

The experienced pair of Malilo and Glod Maele led the pack in the open section with an impressive 71.6 per cent score.

In the absence of Maele’s partner, Tebogo Kubanji, Malilo would try a new partnership with Maele. Closely following them was Tshupelo Olebile and Steward Pelaelo on 58.8 per cent while the former national team youngster, Prince Ramoseki pair Modisaotsile Dikgang finished third.

Kgotla Opelo and Lefika Seroke, Mothusi Chifane and Kutlwano Tabona, Steve Tagarira and Phenyo Koswane closed the fourth to sixth spot of the open’s section respectively.

A tight affair is expected in the ladies section, where all the pairs have been called into camp and only three would make the grade.

Veteran bidders, Alison Davies and Jane Sher led the pack with a paltry 57.23 per cent closely followed by Olorato Charles and Dintelo Ditshoso while Alicia Kelehatile and Mokgabo Mokgosi closed the top three bracket.

Meanwhile, prior to taking part in Cape Town, the federation may get a short in the arm as African Bridge Federation president, Bernard Pascal promised to visit Botswana enroute to South Africa.

In an interview in the last edition in Egypt, Pascal had promised to appeal to the Youth Commission of the world bridge governing body World Bridge Federation (WBF) to finance development of young bridge players in Botswana.

In the African Bridge Federation Zonal Championships established in 2001, Egypt had snagged seven out of the total of nine championships that had been held every two years.

The remaining two, went to South Africa. Accordingly, on the African level, competition is high between Egypt and South Africa, while some teams from other countries including Tunisia and Morocco occasionally peaked, South Africa had proven to be Egypt’s most competent opponent while Botswana had been hailed for its aggressive youth structures.ENDS