By Moorosi Tsiane
MASERU — Lesotho national volleyball team will leave the country on Saturday ahead of their participation at the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) World Cup qualifiers set to take place in Botswana from October 7 – 13.
Speaking with the Lesotho Times on Monday, the Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) public relations officer, Letsatsi Ntsibolane, said the team is in good shape to face their regional counterparts who also qualified for this phase of the competition during the Zone VI sub-zonal world qualifiers tournament held in Mozambique earlier this year.
“We will be joined by the likes of Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia who managed to qualify for this crucial stage. Botswana is the host nation,” Ntsibolane said.
He said this is the first time Lesotho booked a place for this phase of the competition and they stand a chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
“We will be facing a group of good teams in our region and I believe we will do well based on our preparations”, he said.
Ntsibolane said he is confident the Lesotho team will secure a place in next June’s World Cup scheduled to be staged in the Netherlands.
He said the country’s top volleyball side, Redskins managed to beat clubs from the same countries which saw them win the Zone VI Club Championship held in Botswana in 2010.
“Redskins managed to beat the clubs from the same countries that our team will be facing in this year’s competition so we already have a picture of what to expect.
“This has raised our hopes and we feel that we have a very good chance of qualifying if we give it our best shot,” said Ntsibolane.
He said the preparations have been going well so far and the team started their camp at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena last Wednesday.
Training sessions have been conducted at Lehakoe Club.
He said the sport could grow bigger with more support.
“I know it is going to be very difficult to follow the team to Botswana, but any means of support will be a bonus for the players to give their best performances,” he said. He said a lot of players in the national teams come from Redskins team who have tasted international competition.
