05 Feb 2025

The Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) will host a fund raising event on March 7, 2025 aimed at helping young tennis players who cannot afford tennis equipment and travel to other countries.

The corporate tennis tournament will give the business community an opportunity to market, advertise in the tennis court as well as to have the chance to enjoy Botswana cuisine. Naming rights of the event cost P50 000; on court advertising is P10 000, while stalls and Gazeebos are P5 000.

In an interview, BTA president, Oaitse Thipe said some of the objectives of the fund raising activity are to create networks and have a discussion with the business world about investing in tennis and their facilities.

He also said the money raised would also help them to drive their programmes across the country, including in areas such as Maun.  Thipe said it would help in supporting their players and sending them to various tournaments, given that their desire was to see their under 14 players playing in Europe.

He said they already have players that are in the top 10 in Africa. 

“We are looking to players such as Ntugamili Raguin to go and play at the Junior Grand Slam; Malak Macheng to do well and play in Europe as well,” he said.

In that regard, Thipe said for their players to reach their full potential and travel around the world, they would need support from  BTA and other stakeholders.

“So the reason we are hosting the event is to sell the ideas to the corporate world and show them the players we have and their potential, and our facilities so that they can invest in them,” he said. 

Meanwhile, for their robust development programme,  BTA was recently promoted to Tier 1 under the Botswana National Sport Associations Resource Allocation Scheme (BONSARAS) of the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) for the 2024/25 financial year. ENDS