Nhabe Women’s League Champions, Cubs SC has suffered a serious defeat in the First edition of the DTC Botswana Top 8 Women’s Championships held in Gaborone recently.
Cubs SC which competed in the national women’s league for the first time lost all their three games in the tournament. The top 8 regional champions that participated in the tournament were Granada Ladies from Phikwe Region, Orapa All Stars from Boteti, Green Lovers Ladies from Central North, Mexican Girls from Kweneng, Double Action from Gaborone, Royal Fighters from Kgatleng, Francistown United from Francistown region and Cubs SC from Nhabe.
Cubs SC suffered an 8 nil defeat against Double Action in their first game, a 3-2 loss against Royal Fighters FC in their second game and was also walloped 3-2 by Orapa All Stars SC in their last game of the tournament.
Cub’s Head Coach, Bikie Baraki, however applauded that being among the top 8 teams that participated nationally in the championships was a learning experience for them. He highlighted that it was a valuable experience to have played against big teams such as Double Action which already has international experience. Baraki stressed that from all the goal they scored in the league it shows that their team has the potential to be competitive.
“I am satisfied with the way we performed in the tournament because our team was established last year around September but we managed to be among the best teams to represent the region at the national level,” he told Times Sports.
He added that through the tournament they have learned a lot of tactics which they will apply in order to enhance their performance going forward. According to him, there is still need to do more in improving the fitness level of his players so that they do not get easily exhausted in the games of such magnitude.
Going forward the coach said they intend to compete in national friendly games in order to prepare the team for other competitions. Baraki said they hope to achieve that despite several challenges they are faced with such as lack of transport, food and accommodation.
Double Action FC was crowned winners of the Championship after defeating Mexican Girls FC 4-2 in the finals. The club walked away with a whooping P250, 000 cash prize money and a trophy. The club’s Bame Mokume and Masego Nfandiso won goalkeeper and top goal scorer of the tournament respectively.
Mexican Girls FC from Kweneng took second position winning themselves P150, 000 while Mochudi based Royal Fighters FC came third and pocketed P100, 000. Mexican Girls FC’s Segakolodi Didukanyane also won player of the tournament. In addition, all the three teams were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Giving a background of the tournament, DTCB Corporate Manager Kago Mmopi indicated that the partnership started 2021 when DTCB in collaboration with BFA signed a 3 year sponsorship worth P2 430 000.
DTCB Managing Director, Sedireng Serumola said it was a good, exciting and humbling experience to see the potential displayed by the women’s football teams in the tournament. He stated that through the tournament they have appreciated that women have much interest in playing football therefore there is a need for different stakeholders to work together towards supporting them so that they can grow.
