The Diteemane duo of Constance Kuswani and Olorato Ramagapu left for Cape Town yesterday for the South African 2022 Open Championships looking to go past the round of 16 for the first time. The championship is to be played tomorrow at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The tournament was played in October last year but could not be concluded due to load shedding that has affected the neighbouring country.

The duo was amongst the top-ranking 40 athletes before the championship was halted in October and have been invited to fight for top honours. Kuswani and Ramagapu return to South African shores to better local players’ record in the championships. No local player has ever gone past the last 16 round in the SA championships. Veterans, Bonolo Mabote and Tshepiso Rebatenne were the first to reach the last 16 before Tshenolo Mooketsi joined the elite group in recent years.

Kuswani and Ramagapu have been the better women paddlers since the start of the 2023 season. They both finished as runners-up in the season opener, the Lefika Savings tournament played a fortnight ago. In the past weekend, both players secured spots in the national team at the first national team selection tournament. Ramagapu was in mean form at the selections as she won against all her four opponents while Kuswani was second best as she recorded enough points to sneak into the squad. The two are expected back home from South Africa on Monday.

Meanwhile, Bakang Maloka and Boago Malobela also secured national team spots in the first selection tournament. After the Lefika Savings tournament, Maloka continued with his fine form in the selection as he finished top without a loss. Malobela on the other hand finished second to return to the Diteemane set-up after a three-year absence. The second national selection tournament will be played in April to determine the eight paddlers to make the final Diteemane squad. Diteemane is preparing for the 2023 ITTF Southern Region World Champions qualifiers to be held in Gaborone in June.