Hockey clubs miss out on Africa Cup tourney
Four local hockey teams, Basil Ladies and Men and Jwaneng Ladies and Men, missed out on an opportunity to compete at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup for Club Champions (ACCC) held in Ghana due to financial challenges.
The Africa Cup for Club Champions is a tournament organized by the Africa Hockey Federation for Clubs in Africa.
The annual tourney seeks to bring together Champions of various Hockey leagues in respective countries as well as runners up in a continental showpiece for both men and women.
Basil Ladies and Men Hockey Club founder, Tlhoriso Bogwasi told Voice Sport that their anticipated Ghana trip had to be called off due to lack of funds.
“We have been under a lot of financial pressure for a while now and we could not send our team as we had to cover our own transportation and accommodation costs because the Federation only assists us with equipment.
Moreover, there is another worrying factor as we have a limited number of players to make up an 11-aside team and that was a concern hence we missed out,” he said.
Jwaneng Ladies and Men Hockey Club representative Kamogelo Lesaka on the other hand, was more optimistic as he said missing out on the tournament was a blessing in disguise as they will be able to prepare for the upcoming one and also raising more funds as sports ban has been eased.
“I think missing out at this year’s tourney will give us time to prepare as we barely had action for over a year now because of the sports ban and Covid-19 restrictions.
Furthermore, we were not able to raise funds for this tournament even though we knew about it by the beginning of the year because companies have been struggling in the midst of Covid-19, proving difficult to source any financial assistance,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ACCC tournament kick-started on the 24th November and it is expected to finish on the 30th of November 2021.
