01 Aug 2021

Boitshwarelo Butale emerged victorious at the BTTA Phoenix Assurance Top 16 invitational tournament in Gaborone on Saturday.

Butale of Smash Maniacs club won 3-2 in a closely contested final match against longtime rival, Tshepiso Rebatenne of Nhabe Table Tennis club.

The champion walked away with P3 000 while Rebatenne won P1 500.

The semifinalists; Olorato Ramagapu of Smash Maniacs and her team mate Oratile Kedisaletse each won P750.

Ramagapu lost 2-3 to Rebatenne while Kedisaletse also lost 2-3 to Butale.

In the men’s category, some of the country’s best who missed a number of tournaments showed up this time.

They included Tshenolo Mooketsi, Masa Lesole and Sean Dekop.

However, Bakang Maloka of Moshopa Spinners managed to defend his tittle.

He locked horns with Lesole in the final match and won by 3-1, walking home with P3 000 while his opponent won P1 500.

Tirelo Tshipinare of Nhabe club and Thobo Matlhatsi from BDF each won P750 as semi-finalists.

After being declared the winner, the women’s champion could not hide her happiness.

“I am so happy for being crowned the champion today, as you know I have not been playing well and I also missed last month’s tournament,” she said.

Butale highlighted that she came in the tournament ranked number 12 and was placed in a tough group.

A lot of people, she said, asked about her intensions as a player and were eager to see her playing and that motivated her.

“This showed that some people still had trust in me as a player and that pushed me,” she added.

She advised upcoming players to focus on training and apply that during games, adding that behavior also contributed to one’s success.

“The way we conduct ourselves as players is very important such as what we do during our spare times.  We should refrain from alcohol and drugs, our bodies should always be fit as sports people,” she added.

She highlighted that a sport person should always find ways to keep fit even when sport was suspended.

When quizzed about her retirement plans for retirement, the 37-year-old said she wanted to go into coaching, noting that she already had level two coaching certificate and was already training a development team in Mabeleapodi where is based.

She indicated that she was not certain when she would stop playing.

For her part, Rebatenne said she was happy because she did not believe she would reach the final stage, adding that she had only one week to prepare for the tournament due to illness.

She said this month’s tournament was tougher than the previous ones, noting that reaching a final was a great achievement.

“It was tough from group stages to the last stage. You could not predict who was going to win,” she said.

Men’s champion, Maloka, echoed sentiments that this month’s tournament was not like any other.

“It was a very tough competition, a lot of top players who had not been taking part in previous tournaments were present,” he added.

He said knowing that some of the country’s best players would be taking part in the tournament also attributed to his success, since he had to train hard, keeping in mind the kind of players he was going to face.

Maloka advised those who did not win to never give up, adding that perseverance could usher in success.

“They should keep on working hard, keeping their eyes on the ball, hard work always pays off, their time will come,” he added. Ends