Leemisa Thuseho
REDSKINS successfully defended their A Division Volleyball League championship beating archrivals LDF 3-0 in their fourth and final tournament of the league at the Police Training College (PTC) last weekend.
Redskins wrapped up their 2018/19 season with 60 points while LDF finished in second with 56 points. Greenspikes came third with 42 points.
LMPS settled for fourth with 40 points after losing to Greenspikes.
In the female category, Redskins (60 points) and LDF (54) came first and second respectively. H-Flow finished third with 46 points while Mahlaseli (40) came fourth.
The winners in both categories pocketed M5 000 while first runners-up pocketed bagged M3 000. The third placed teams took home M2 000 each.
Redskins head coach Tšepo Raletooane told the Lesotho Times that he was happy to defend their title despite the competition posed by LDF.
“We only managed to beat LDF 3-0 in this final tournament but we had earlier managed a marginal 3-2 while they also edged us 3-2 in another tournament,” Raletooane said.
“I am also happy that the team I was using this year is full of young players.”
Redskins and LDF will represent Lesotho at this year’s edition of the African Zone 6 Club Championships in Malawi next month after for finishing first and second respectively last season.
The two sides represented the country last year at the tournament in South Africa but they were booted out in the early stages.
Ahead of this year’s showpiece, Raletooane said he wanted to use the same squad he used to defend the league but was worried that most of his players are scheduled to sit for their final examinations this year.
“The players need international exposure so that they can improve. We are yet to get the schedules of their examinations but we foresee the dates are going to clash,” Raletooane said.
LDF coach Pitso Tjabane said even though he was unhappy to see their rivals being crowned champions although they were happy to cause problems for Redskins.
“Heading to the final tournament we were ready for the fight but my players’ performance was poor, that is why we lost 3-0 to Redskins for the first time this season.
“We lost focus several times and Redskins capitalised,” Tjabane said.
He said the management of his team was yet to decide whether or not it would travel to Malawi for the African Zone 6 Championships.
