29 Jan 2024

Botswana’s beach volleyball team of Ngirl Wright and Wabongwa Boima has qualified for 13th Africa Games that will be held in Accra, Ghana in March 8-23.

The duo finished second after suffering a 0-2 defeat against Mozambique on Sunday at the qualifiers played at Marabou Gouge in Gaborone and both teams will represent the Region VI (SADC) at the Africa Games.

Each of the eight Zone VI countries that took part in the qualifiers was allowed to field two national teams, therefore the other women’s team for Botswana, made by the duo of Tsebo Marape and Jestinah Boima finished third after defeating Angola 2-1.

On the men’s side, the instrumental duo of George Chiswaniso and Jack Boifang could not live up to expectations as they finished third, behind South Africa and Mozambique, therefore failing to secure a slot at the Africa Games.

The other team of Tiroyaone Otimile and Elton Elias was eliminated at the preliminary stage.

Meanwhile, the duo Wright and Boima as well as Jack and George did exceptionally well in the four-legged Zone VI Beach Volleyball clubs tour series, which concluded in Gaborone on Friday, as they were announced as overall winners.

Prior to the Africa Games qualifiers that were held on Saturday and Sunday, the country hosted the final leg of the four-legged Zone VI series on Thursday and Friday. The series started in 2023 with the first leg in Namibia (Windhoek), while the second and third legs were held in Mozambique (Maputo). The two teams each walked away with US$1 400 ( about P19 000).

Botswana Volleyball Federation president, Tsoseletso Magang has applauded the country’s clubs and national teams for preforming exceptionally well in a sport that was relatively new to them.

Magang also revealed that in beach volleyball ranking of players and teams were based on a point system. “You need to get the team as many competitions as possible to collect points, improve their ranking as well as their competitiveness,” she said.

She said the accumulated points were used to rank a player or a team not only in Zone VI (Southern Africa) but also in Africa and the World.

“We are doing all that we can to grow our beach volleyball teams and taking them to as many competitions as possible especially those in Zone VI, so that they accumulate points and improve their rankings,” she said.

In an effort to grow beach volleyball, Magang said Zone VI came up with a Zone VI Tour Series with different legs. “One tour could have five legs, seven legs, but the one that just concluded has four legs which started in Namibia (Windhoek), followed by the second and third legs in Mozambique (Maputo) and coming to Botswana for the fourth and final leg,” said Magang.

Magang also said the weather condition that was dominated by unbearable heat over the four days of the beach volleyball extravaganza, took a toll on the players, hitting hard on the locals who were still being introduced to beach volleyball and playing back to back games in a congested fixture.

Magang said teams from countries like Mozambique and Angola were at an advantage as they were the pioneers of beach volleyball in the region.

She said for countries like Botswana where there are no beaches, therefore playing in man-made grounds and more so that the sport was new, the level of competition wear their energy tanks.

Magang also added that the Zone VI series attracted remuneration. She said at the end of series, the clubs received monetary awards as per their positions as well as being rewarded for their overall standings at the end of the four-legged series.

She said the four-day beach volleyball event has been a bit of a challenge as the country had to prepare for the games within a short period time having been given the rights to host late in December 2023.

Therefore, Magang said the two activities were a learning curve for the volleyball federation in terms of hosting events of such a magnitude.

She said the lessons learnt were positive, as they improved their level of event management as well as allowing the clubs to take part and improve their skills.

She said the rules of beach volleyball in some instances differ to those of indoor volleyball, adding that hosting the events will go a long way in growing beach volleyball in the country. ENDS