06 May 2019

Botswana Bowling Association (BBA) women’s and men’s teams left for Cardiff, Wales on May 5 to take part in the closely contested World Championships qualifiers.

Speaking on the sidelines of the association’s annual national championships finals at the Gaborone Club greens on Saturday, BBA spokesperson, John Gaborutwe said the national team was upbeat and raring to participate in the world qualifiers that might see them booking a slot in the prestigious world championships slated for the Gold Coast, Australia next year.

Only the top 10 countries in each discipline; men and women’s singles, men and women’s rings, men and women’s rinks will qualify for the Australian showpiece.

The team is made up of this year’s women’s single champion, Marea Modutlwa, who will be assisted by Tibone Fox and Chakale Robert.

By virtue of being a national singles champion, Modutlwa has automatically qualified for the November champion of champions’ tournament also be staged in Australia.

Five men who made the cut into the team are, Remmy Kebapetse, Binash Desai, George Naik, Baven Ballendra and Gaborutwe.

Kebapetse will play in the men’s singles qualifiers. Desai, Naik and Ballendra will partner for the men’s trips.

Gaborutwe and Kebapetse will partner in the men’s pairs.

The 2019 qualifiers will pit Botswana against some of the world’s bowling powerhouses in the mold of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Switzerland among others.

The world championships are contested into two halves, the Atlantic and the Pacific rims.

Meanwhile, the national championships ended on a high note on Saturday.

In the men’s singles, Regent Reid failed to defend his crown and the winner was Edwin Nyoka of Orapa team.

In the closely contested men’s pair, Kitso Robert and Ofentse Moleleki, who won the 2017 and last year’s editions, were this time around beaten by Francistown club’s pair of Andre Van de Walt and Daiyaan Mohammed.

In the women’s pairs, Juliet Mokokwe and Lebogang Dikhupe of Jwaneng won.

The national team has a tight schedule as they will be preparing for the Africa States tournament billed for Nairobi in August and also in putting together a junior national team that will participate in the London world youth junior championships in December.  ENDS