Through First Capital Bank's Lefika Savings Account, the commercial bank will be the main sponsor of a new tournament, the BTTA Star Contender.
Speaking to Mmegi Sport, the BTTA public relations officer, Tshegofatso Malepa said she was not in a position to reveal the contents of the sponsorship deal. “I cannot reveal anything yet. We will have a press conference next week.
I am still trying to confirm the venue. All your questions will be answered by then. At the moment, I cannot tell you how much they are coming on board with. We are still sealing the deal and once everything is concluded we will let you know,” Malepa said. The BTTA Star Contender will be the 2022 table tennis season opener.
The Star Contender tournament was to be held tomorrow but was postponed to March 4 due to venue unavailability. Mmegi Sport is aware that the BTTA Star Contender total prize money is P15,000. The winners’ prize is proposed at P3,000 each for the men's and women's categories. The runners-up will pocket P2,000 while third-place finishers will take home P1,000.
The new tournament will be played at Livingstone Kolobeng College and registration is set at P150 for the seniors and P100 for the junior players, while the draw is to be held on March 3 at 5pm upon registration closing time. Apart from the new tournament main sponsor, BTTA also has Phoenix Assurance Botswana, Stag International, and India High Commission in Botswana as main sponsors.
Meanwhile, the BTTA has divided this year’s rankings into three categories. The Elite Grand Smash tournament carries 200 ranking points for the winners, the Star Contender tournament winners will collect 150 points, while the BTTA Feeder tournament winners points are 67.
