By Moorosi Tsiane
MASERU — Six volleyball teams will represent the country in the upcoming Zone VI club championships to be staged in Swaziland next month.
Redskins, LMPS, and LDF are the three male teams that will be in Swaziland to represent the country alongside three female sides in Mahlaseli, Redskins and LDF VI.
The Redskin male team won the 2010 edition of the competition and will be hoping to bag a second trophy next month.
The six teams will leave the country on December 14 as the games are expected to get underway two days later.
Two top teams from both the male and the female leagues automatically qualified for the games while Lesotho was also given a slot to include a third team in both categories of the championships.
This regional tourney will see Lesotho teams face tough competition from 10 African countries vying for a spot at Confederation of African Volleyball Interclub championships that is played annually under the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) calendar.
Lesotho volleyball public relations officer, Letsatsi Ntsibolane, told the Lesotho Times that he is confident the teams will do well in the competition.
“Our teams’ performance in the regional competitions has been very good and I believe if they rise to the occasion then we will have teams representing in the next African Interclub championships,” Ntsibolane said.
He said the local teams face baptism of fire against clubs from Botswana who have also been outstanding over the years.
“Botswana teams are very strong because they have good sponsorship and the government also puts a lot of weight in the development of sport in their country.”
Redskins captain, Moholo Lekomola, was optimistic they will repeat the success of 2010 when they won the competition. “We played in this competition before and we know what to expect,” Lekomola said.
“The stage is now set for us to make sure that we do well and bring the trophy home like we did three years ago,” he said.
Redskins, who reached the finals of the 2012 edition of the competition held in Mozambique, will be boosted by the return of their seven players who represented Lesotho in the FIVB tournament hosted by Botswana last month.
