Sports

Botswana prepares for AAPA championships debut

Larona Makhaiza | Monday July 10, 2023 16:02

Botswana Cue Sport leaders, Marang Morolong (right), Kagiso Tlou (left), Otsile Nawa (second from left) with All Africa Pool Association (AAPA) delegate, Sibusiso Dladla PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG
 
Botswana Cue Sport leaders, Marang Morolong (right), Kagiso Tlou (left), Otsile Nawa (second from left) with All Africa Pool Association (AAPA) delegate, Sibusiso Dladla PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG

The arrangement under BNSC is in order for BBC to take part in All Africa Pool Association (AAPA) Championships scheduled to take place in October this year.

It will be Botswana's first ever participation at the games since being affiliated with AAPA in 2016. Recalling on how BCC was hit a with a suspension by BNSC, Marang Morolong who is the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the entity, revealed that they were suspended for failing to comply with the registry offices.

“We are affiliates of the BNSC but we are currently suspended by the BNSC due to non-compliance from us at the Registrar of Societies. The Registrar of Societies sent us back and said we should register our clubs in a proper manner,” revealed Morolong.

Morolong explained that though they had clubs that were registered, most of them were not in alignment with the terms and conditions required by the Registrar. “But what made us get suspended mainly is because of the time of COVID as the Registrar used to open and close without clear communication and that made it difficult for us to register clubs.

At some point the Registrar of Societies relocated and we failed to register clubs on time hence the suspension,” he explained. But now that the BCC wants to take part in All Africa Championships organised by AAPA, they first have to combat the molehill before which is their suspension so that they do align themselves with both the BNSC and AAPA.

Morolong, however, feels that the entity is on the right track. “Everything is so far sailing well because soon I believe we will be fully compliant. Our team is up to the task with that while we still prepare ourselves for the championships in October,” he said. Otsile Nawa of Bw Pool South Region, who has been tasked with making sure that BCC is re-admitted, provided the update of how far they are. “The process is on-going and so far we have gotten the names of about 13 teams. We are hoping that by the end of August all teams would be registered completely and thus meaning we are re-admitted by BNSC,” Nawa shared with Sport Monitor.

Nawa said they are in the process of selecting a team that will represent the country at the championships. He said they are going town by town in the Greater Gaborone to find the talent. 'We are also working with others in the northern part of the country to help us with this exercise of finding players,” he said. Nawa stated that at the end of day they will only need five players to take part in the championships and three reserves. “We will have 10 players from both the South Region and North Region to face each other and only five players will qualify while three will be reserves as required by AAPA,” he explained.