Mikia Kalati
THE Lesotho Volleyball Association’s (LVA) Annual Winter Tournament will be held from 18 to 20 July at Lehakoe Club in Maseru.
The competition is open to local and international clubs and the winners in the male and female categories will each pocket M2500 and a floating trophy.
The first and second runners up will pocket M1500 and M1000 respectively.
LVA Public Relations Officer Buller Phalatse said the tournament was aimed at improving the levels of competition among the teams and to gauge their strength against foreign teams.
“The tournament aims at giving our clubs the much needed competition during their break from the league games,” Phalatse said.
The tournament is wholly funded by the LVA with trophies and prize money for the top three teams in each category as well as individual awards for outstanding players.
“There will also be individual awards for the Most Valuable Player, Best Setter, Best Blocker, Best Defender and Best Server as well as a floating trophy for the champions.”
He said the teams had to pay a registration fee of M500 (local clubs) and M700 (foreign clubs) to participate.
The Winter Challenge comes a few weeks after LVA successfully hosted the King’s Birthday tournament which was won by Redskins (male category) and Mahlaseli (female category).
“It is good for the game to have two back to back competitions for our teams.”
He said it was a challenge to attract sponsors but thanked Has Computers who sponsored the King’s Birthday tournament.
Redskins, who have been the dominant force in the sport, are the defending champions of the Winter Tournament and they also lead in the league games that are being played over four phases from March to October.
The league is bankrolled by long-time LVA sponsors Metropolitan Lesotho.
The top two teams will represent Lesotho in regional competitions.
