Their male counter-parts, as expected, once more proved too strong, brushing aside the challenge of Kutlwano and they also won the gold medal of Liquid Open Chan to maintain their unbeaten run since volleyball returned, post covid-19.

The two teams will now represent Botswana at the upcoming Zone VI Senior Volleyball championship slated for December from the 11th until 22nd, 2022 in Zambia.

‘Ditaugadi’ will be looking to add their name to the folklore of history books and win the regional glory for the first time in their maiden appearance of the competition.

The male team go into the tournament in search of their third (3rd) title after victories in 2006 and 2018, last year; post covid-19, the team could not defend their title as there was no active volleyball competition in the country. Speaking to Sun Sport this week after their triumph, Police VI men’s head Coach, Mompati ‘Vuyo’ Mere, said they used the Liquid Open

Championship tournament to ready themselves for Zone VI Senior men Volleyball tournament. “I’m delighted with the performance of the team, we played really well, we have been preparing for a long time but not to win the Liquid Open Championship, it wasn’t our main objective. After winning the return to play tournament, we knew that we had qualified for Zone VI championships; we have been preparing and this tournament has helped us to gauge our progress and we are happy with what we saw,” Mere responded.

“We want to win Zone VI tournament, we haven’t played in the tournament for the past two years due to covid-19 challenges, but we want to reclaim the title and qualify for Africa Club Volleyball Championships,” he added. Having won the championship twice as a player, Mere will be looking to bag his third medal of the competition, and noted that it will be the proudest moment of his career.

Police VI men’s team last participated in the Africa club championships in 2017 and they were ranked 11th in Africa

and Mere highlighted that, should they qualify for the competition they will be eyeing to finish amongst the eight (8) bracket in Africa.

The Police VI ladies team are also looking to follow in the steps of their male team and assistant coach, Maatla Mogapi said they are confident of upsetting the odds to clinch the title.

“It wasn’t easy to get where we are, we are a newly formed side but we managed to become runners up during the return to play tournament. We have lost some of our players post covid-19 but we worked really hard for us to be where we are now,” Mogapi said. “It will be our first time at the tournament but our intension is to make history and win the Zone VI title, it will be an incredible moment and trust me, those teams will find it difficult to stop us,” buoyant Ditaugadi assistant coach said. BDF VI men’s team is also set to travel to Zambia and be part of the tournament after they finished 2nd to Police XI during the return to play tournament, the teams are expected to leave the country on Saturday.