Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) President, Kudzanani Motswagole, has commended the Indian Embassy for consistently contributing to the growth of local table tennis.
Speaking at a press briefing held in Gaborone this past week, Motswagole said the significance of their partnership with the Indian Embassy has been fruitful.
“Our partnership with the Indian Embassy has been exquisite. I am going to make it a point that I work really hard to improve the standard of table tennis in Botswana to not only suit the players’ needs but also to suit the sponsors needs so as to keep the good relationships we have sought,” he said.
He further indicated that these partnerships are important as players survive on prize monies hence a need to seek more sponsors.
“Our recent relationships with KGK diamond Polishing Company where more than 15 players who have completed their Botswana General Certificate Secondary Education (BGCSE) have been roped in to be able to afford to pay rent for themselves, participation fees and transport, has bee a blessing in disguise,” he indicated.
An equally elated India High Commissioner, Dr Rajesh Ranjan, said they have a very productive relationship with BTTA.
“This tournament is one of the programs implemented by them and the association to further strengthen their relationship.
It will be an annual event and the tourney is aligned to the India 75 years Celebration dubbed India 75.
Moreover, this celebration may be accomplished through “people to people interaction” and therefore this tournament is a perfect fit for such an interaction,” he said.
In addition, Ranjan said they are devoted to continue helping BTTA to grow local table tennis.
“We are going to continue helping table tennis athletes with maintaining the quality of their lives by sponsoring tournaments like this one and also providing Undergraduate and Post Graduate Scholarships and four athletes have benefited from the scholarship in the past two years and more will follow,” said Ranjan.
For her part, the newly appointed Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bame Bayendi applauded the value of friendship in sport, “As an organisation, the BNOC lauds our value of friendship as one of our cornerstones, as sport aim to cultivate harmonious relations across all humanity.
This also in sync with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s of harnessing friendship to build a better world through sport,” Bayendi applauds.
Meanwhile, the India @75 Tournament is sponsored by a tune of P20 000 and P15 000 will be prize monies for male and female categories as victors will collect P4000.00 apiece at Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN).
