04 Jul 2021

Game Kebodiwang of BDF Table Tennis Club caused an upset in the Ping Pong female category Saturday when she defeated the sport’s number 1 seed Tshepiso Rebatenne of Nhabe 3-1. Rebatenne won all meets last year except for one loss.

As fate would have it, the prolific player did not have it easy this time as the second edition of Phoenix Assurance top 16 Invitational tournament at Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) went into full swing.

Kebodiwang pocketed P3 000 while Rebatenne walked away with P1 500. Still on the women’s category Oratile Kedisaletse of Smash Maniacs and Salome Matlhatsi from BDF could only go as far as the semifinals, each winning P750.

Meanwhile Bakang Maloka of Moshupa Spinners was crowned winner in individual men’s category after white-washing Boago Malobela of Smash Maniacs 2-0. He pocketed P3 000, while Malobela won P1 500 as a runner up.

Tirelo Tshipinare of Nhabe and Mompati Chabe from BDF also could not go past the semifinals, each winning P750.

In an interview following her victory, Kebodiwang said training hard was her secret to winning the tournament. She said even when sport activities were stopped she continued her physical training, which she believed helped her a lot considering she had not participated in a number of tournaments since last year.

Despite losing 3-0 to Rebatenne  at group stages, that did not deter her, but helped her strategise for the final match. Rebatenne accepted her loss.

“It’s the nature of game, you win some you lose some,” she said.

She attributed her failure to being lulled into false confidence by her thorough win at group stages.

“The strategies I used against her in our group stage match, she turned into her strength, she came prepared for me after seriously studying our previous encounter,” she added.

The other reasons she attributed to her loss was a muscle pull that she sustained during the game and poor fitness since it was the first tournament.

She said her loss taught her that she should review each game, whether she won or lost.

In the men’s category Maloka said he was happy to have won the second consecutive tournament in 2021, adding he was also the winner of 2020 last two tournaments.

He noted that he learnt from each tournament and worked on identified mistakes, which he believed would assist him to continue his winning streak.

The player said even when sport was on break due to COVID-19, he did not stop training, urging others to follow suit.  

Botswana Table Tennis Association president, Kudzanani Motswagole said the tournament was a success, noting that they were happy with organisation of the event.

He highlighted that they managed to comply with COVID-19 protocols.

“No one was allowed to enter without producing a COVID-19 test proof, while men and women played at different times; each player was asked to vacate the hall immediately after his or her match,” he added.

The level of players’ performance, he said, was low since it was the first tournament after resumption of sports. However Motswagole was optimistic that performance would improve with time.

Motswagole congratulated all those who won and advised those who did not succeed to not give up and to keep working hard, which he said would put them in a better position in upcoming events.

With regard to upcoming regional tournaments, he said their target was to bring home gold medals since the team had in the past won other medals apart from gold. He thanked all their sponsors, Phoenix Assurance for prize money, Stag International for equipment as well as those who assisted in different capacities. ENDS