Botswana to host 2017 Zone Six tennis tourney
Thato Kala | Wednesday February 5, 2014 14:32
At the end of this year's edition of the competition in the Zambian capital, the Zone Six Committee met and decided the 2017 event will be staged in Gaborone. Namibia will host next year's edition.
Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) president, Thebe Selema said while prospects of hosting an international event were exciting, they needed to involve all stakeholders before kicking off preparations for 2017.
'We have been awarded the right to host the 2017 Zone Six tournament, we did accept but we still have to seek permission from Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture and the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) because we cannot host an international event without their blessing,' Selema told Mmegi Sport.
He said they will prepare a document for presentation to the ministry and BNSC. Selema believes Botswana is capable of hosting the event. This year's edition in Zambia attracted six participants with Angola pulling out at the eleventh hour.
Meanwhile, the Zone Six meeting in Lusaka discussed the need to integrate the region and involve each country in national tournaments.
The aim is to ensure players in the region get enough international exposure as the committee felt meeting once at the Zone Six competition was not enough.
'The region needs to be more integrated so we can develop players.
We are to send an annual calendar of events to the secretary general so we can have a regional calendar where we have people from other countries attend tournaments in member countries.
We do not want to host isolated tournaments as countries,' he Selema explained. It was announced at the meeting that Zone Six will now be called African Union Zone Five. Selema's position as Zone Six representative in the ATTF executive committee was ratified over the weekend. BTTA secretary general, Brian Sitang was also confirmed in a similar position in the Zone Six structures.