Softball Independence Cup winners to pocket P20k

Calistus Kolantsho | Monday August 22, 2022 16:00

ENTERTAINING ENCOUNTER: Gatalamotho and Wells battling it out during the Softball Independence Cup eminations on Saturday PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The tournament has been boosted with sponsorship worth P250, 000 from Archein Hardware. From the windfall P100,000, is for logistics while P150,000 has been set aside for prizes.

The tournament is scheduled to be played over the Independence holidays. The men’s eliminations for the Southern Zone were held over the weekend in Gaborone. The games attracted a huge crowd.

The men’s teams delivered some entertaining performances the entire weekend with new signings playing for the first time for their new teams. The Botswana Softball Association (BSA) secretary-general, Nozie Payet told Sport Monitor that the eliminations, which started on Friday and ended on Sunday, went well exceeding expectations.

Regarding the prize money, Payet said the winners for both men and women will each pocket P20,000. “I cannot share the whole breakdown because it is still to be shared with the teams but what I can share is the first prize as it was divulged at the launch of the sponsorship.

For both sexes, the first prize is P20,000,” she said. Meanwhile, there were some concerns ahead of the tournament, especially by Northern Zone teams regarding the ratio representation in the tournament. Payet said she was not aware of any concerns.

“I do not know about allegations and the North being unhappy. But the ratio has been 5:3 (South-North) men and as National Executive Committee (NEC), we looked at the reasons behind the ratio and reviewed it.

We then decided that the ratio would be determined by the number of teams that would register from both zones,” she said. Payet said in the end the Northern Zone registered 11 men and seven women while the Southern Zone registered 12 men and 7 ladies. She explained that the ratio was then set at 4:4 for men and 5:3 (South 5- North 3) for ladies.

The Northern Zone eliminations are set for the coming weekend in Orapa. By the time of going to press yesterday, Gatalamotho, Police IX and BDF IX had already booked their spots at the tournament.