Volleyball’s Golden Cup: a cup half full
Local volleyball action is set to flow at the weekend, as the Golden Cup gets under way in Mogoditshane (SSKB Courts) and Mahalapye.
This is only the second tournament of the year; and just like in the BVF Cup in September, there won’t be a single Thebe of prize money on offer for participating teams after Liquid Intelligent Technologies pulled out of sponsoring the event.
Having splashed P200, 000 on a similar competition at this stage last year, losing Liquid comes as a body blow to the Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF).
However, the show must go on, with BVF vowing to pump P200, 000 from their Development Fund into the four-week tournie in an effort to keep clubs active ahead of December’s Zone VI Interclub Championship in Lesotho.
Last Friday (27 October), the federation sent a letter to its affiliates, assuring them the tournament would go ahead as planned.
“The sponsor could not raise funds to come on board and we will continue to self fund so that we maintain the momentum gained during the BVF Cup. The competition is meant to keep teams active and does not have much funding,” reads the communiqué.
The tournament will run to the end of November, with teams receiving P4, 000 mobilization fees during the preliminary group games, P2, 500 during the quarter-finals and P1, 000 for making the final four.
