Leemisa Thuseho
BERENG High School is the overall winner of the 2023 Lesotho Institutions Sport Association (LISA) Ball Games after winning both the male and female categories of the tournament’s soccer competition.
The games were held at Lesotho High School and Setsoto Stadium in Maseru from Friday to Sunday.
In the girls’ competition, Bereng won 2-1 against Sekonyela High School from Mokhotlong district in the final, while third place went to St Margaret High School from Leribe.
In the boys’ category, Bereng also emerged victorious after beating Qacha’s Nek High School 2-0 in the final, with third position going to Moorosi High School from Quthing district.
The winners were honoured with gold medals and trophies, while the second and third-placed schools received silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Johnson Baker High School’s Mahlapane Matete was named player-of-the-tournament in the female category, while the male award was won by Mokutu Nkuebe from Bereng. Both players each walked away with a trophy and M1000 prize money.
LISA public relations officer, Ntainyane Marabe, said the tournament was a success and noted the dominance of teams from the districts in the competition. Maseru teams had dominated the event in recent years, which was not the case this time around. Marabe attributed this change to the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA).
“This year’s outcome tells us that our football is growing even in the districts, and not only in Maseru. The work being done by LeFA to host coaching courses in the districts is commendable because teachers are also able to attend such workshops, hence the growth of football outside Maseru.
“In the past, teachers were coaching the students without having gone through coaching training themselves, which is no longer the case,” Marabe said
Meanwhile, Leqele high school won the girls netball competition, while
in the boys’ category, victory went to ‘Maseribane High School. Hlotse and Bonhomme high schools won the male and female handball competitions respectively.
Johnson Baker High School were crowned basketball champions in the male category, while Hlotse High School won the female competition.
In volleyball, Phuthiatsana High School were the winners in the boys’ section, with Lithabaneng High School taking the girls’ edition of the sport. Phomolong High School dominated the rugby competitions after winning both the male and female categories.
Leqele High School won the debate competition, while Neo Teisi from Moyeni High School walked away with the best poet award.
The annual games are fully sponsored by Econet Telecom Lesotho, who signed a M6 million three-year sponsorship deal with LISA in 2021.
According to Marabe, the games will be used to select national teams to represent Lesotho at the upcoming Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa (COSSASA) Ball Games to be held in Malawi from 30 August to 5 September.
However, Marabe said Lesotho’s participation at the COSSASA games is still hanging in the balance as government is yet to give the association the nod to attend the event.
“We are not yet sure if we will make it to Malawi as we depend on government funding. So we are yet to know whether we will get the financial assistance we need. But that is our wish because whenever we host these local competitions, the athletes’ target is to one day represent the country at international level,” Marabe said.
