Lopang leads Africa chess body
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday August 20, 2022 06:00
It was an easy walk in the park for Lopang as she garnered 29 votes while her rivals, Bernard Wanjala from Kenya scored 11 votes and Egyptian Hesham El Gendy received seven votes. “I have represented Botswana from 2000 until 2014 at the Olympiads. After my playing days, I sponsored myself to go into arbitration and training of players.
I volunteered my services to Africa Chess Confederation and Greek Chess Federation to obtain arbitration norms. I managed to obtain three titles, Woman International Master (WIM), International Arbiter, and FIDE instructor.
I achieved all those as a full-time employee,” said Lopang, who started playing chess in 1993. Lopang joined Africa Chess Confederation as vice president in 2018. She said her role was to be a technical assistant to the FIDE president responsible for Africa.
Lopang said during her tenure, she learnt a lot about international management and crisis management. She said after 29 years of playing, she has been handed the role to lead the continent. “I started having an interest in this position two months after the 2018 elections.
I declared my interest to my committee members and they reached out to the Africa chess delegates to support my bid and I invited those who were interested to join my ticket,” she said. Lopang said she started her campaign early because she had a plan and managed to reach out to 30 countries. She did not reach out to other countries because of political alignment.
“African countries led the change in women empowerment. They are He4She (a women empowerment programme) heroes. It is an honour and privilege to be recognised amongst giants of chess, Egypt. We are now together for Africa,” she said. Lopang and her team will lead Africa for the next four years.
She said during her tenure, she plans to have inclusive leadership and build capacity from athletes, coaches, referees, and administrators. She also intends to champion the ACC strategy and ensure that the confederation becomes independent.
“Botswana has been benefiting since I was a technical assistant. I will ensure that my country does not miss any opportunity like I have been doing as their shadow delegate from 2018,” Lopang said.
The new ACC executive committee:
Deputy president – Omer Abdalla Omerdeab (Sudan),
First vice president – Nadezhda Marochkina (Senegal),
Second vice president – Sidi Mohamed Tajedine (Mauritania),
Secretary general – Tito Martins (Angola),
Treasurer – Wilfried Ntamatungiro (Burundi).