In an interesting turn of events, former BTA secretary-general Boikobo Gaolebalwe is challenging incumbent president Oaitse Thipe. Gaolebalwe previously served two terms between 2009 and 2017 under the BTA executive committee led by former president Nelson Amanze. Dr Khaulani Fichani was roped in until the 2019 elections, where he went head-to-head with Thipe. Tefo Tefo defeated Gaolebalwe in 2017 for the vice president-administration position. Gaolebalwe has taken time to regroup and together with his team, they are back to claim glory. However, Thipe feels he deserves a chance to serve his last term. He said it is interesting that Gaolebalwe and his team are contesting for positions while they have not been active in tennis. He said the team did not even attend the last BTA Annual General Meeting (AGM). Thipe's other committee members Tefo and Ari Kalmari are not seeking another bite at the cherry.
Thipe told MmegiSport that he wants to finish the job that he started in 2019. “If given another mandate, I plan to get our players opportunities to play Grand Slams. I want to make sure that by the time my term ends, we have at least 15 weeks of international tennis tournaments. This year, we hosted six international tournaments. Tennis should be played in areas like Kgalagadi and Gantsi where it never existed before,” he said. Thipe, 42, said the number of coaches and other different structures should be increased across the country. He said the National Tennis Centre would resurface in January to prepare the facility for 10 weeks of professional tournaments for men and women. He added that they are also planning to host International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level Two in 2024 or 2025. During Thipe’s tenure, BTA won two awards from the Confederation of Africa Tennis (CAT) in 2020 for best development programmes in Africa.
