Chess Metropolitan Qualifiers
Ignatius Ndjovu vs Phemelo Kheto Saga Continues
Chess fanatics are invited to register for the qualifiers of the upcoming Metropolitan Chess tournament that will be held on the 21-24th of March in Gaborone. The 1st stage of the tournament starts this weekend at the National Stadium.
According to Botswana Chess Federation executive committee member Alex Mpusang from the first stage 16 players are expected to qualify for the second stage of the tournament that will be held on the 9-10th of February.
He said four male players have already qualified for the second stage and will be joined by 16 players from the 1st stage and will form groups of four. The final 8 will qualify for the finals to be in March .The four players are: reigning champion Phemelo Kheto, Ignatius Ndjovu, Providence Oathotse and Tebogo Pitlagano.
On the ladies side this weekend, nine players will qualify straight to play in the finals in March. Tshepiso Lobang is expected defend her title. The interesting draw in this tournament will be the on-going title battle between the un-stoppable national champion and FED international ranked Kheto against once untouchable Ignatius who lost his one on one well publicized match with Kheto last year December.
MOTSWANA FINISH 31 IN GREATEST RACE ON EARTH
The third local athlete to take part in the Standard Chartered Bank Greatest Race on Earth, Raobine Ramoseka finished 31 overall in the men’s marathon race in Mumbai, India over the weekend. He finished the race in 2 hours 28 minutes and 15 seconds.
Ramoseka, a long distance runner follows in the footsteps of Bashingile Ndabili and Keineetse Moswasi who took part in the race in the past.
Botswana is now ranked position 20 in the final group position. The winners of the race are from Kenya followed by Ethiopia. Both countries are known for their dominance in marathon races.
AFCON Starts
Ghanaian culture took the centre at the opening of the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations at the 40,000 capacity stadium in Accra on Sunday. It was a colourful event depicting several emotions especially those of the hosts. Ghana won their opening Group A match 2-1 against a stubborn Guinea. Asamoah Gyan put them the lead after 54 minutes with a penalty following a foul on Junior Agogo by Guinea’s Oumar Kalabane. Kalabane made amends with a headed equalizer for Guinea. ON Monday Ivory Coast took on Nigeria while Cameroon played Egypt.
Boss relieved after Reading test
Sir Alex Ferguson was as relieved as anyone to hear the final whistle at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, having watched his side make hard work of a 2-0 win over Reading.
Wayne Rooney scored 13 minutes from time, with Cristiano Ronaldo adding a second in injury time. But it was by no means comfortable, Reading caused United problems all afternoon and never gave in.
“By the end we were quite happy to get through it. Considering the number of opportunities we had, maybe our decision-making in the final third of the field wasn’t at its best. We kept making chances, but you do start to worry when the game goes on and you haven’t scored,” Sir Alex said.
“You worry whether you’re going to get the goal, and it took a lovely flick from Wayne to get us in front. Credit to Reading they kept going at us. They really do make you work.”
Both sides set out with an attacking agenda, which made for an end-to-end encounter. “It was a really open match,” added Sir Alex. “It really needed an early goal, which could have led to a lot of goals in that game. We got the goal at the right time and managed to hold on to get through.
“I wasn’t sure how Reading were going to approach it. When I saw their line-up I knew they were going gung-ho. The opportunities they had, they had a go for it.
“Kitson gave us a lot of problems, but in the main it was down to our own attacking play, which wasn’t at its best today. With a bit more care in the last third we would maybe have scored more.” ManUtd.com
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