MORE WOMEN FOR POOL NATIONAL PLAY-OFFS

EZULWINI – Pool is certainly coming home in Eswatini.

After over a decade of non-official activity, including international participation due to political leadership battles, last year was the most successful for the sport after they regained recognition by the country’s government through the Eswatini Sport and Recreation Council (ESRC). The sport is back on its feet officially and vying for its first national teams’ selection play-offs in the form of National Championships.

The new mother body for pool or all cue sport in the kingdom, Eswatini Cue Sport Association (ECSA) will be running the play-offs to select national under-23s, senior men’s team, senior women’s team and masters. The play-offs are expected to kick-off soon, but the date is yet to be made official. ECSA President Muntu Dlamini noted that they were impressed by the registration of the opposite sex because most of them had been missing in action despite that the sport was always played domestically with private sponsors, but male-dominated.

By last Friday, 12 players had been confirmed to compete for a place in the latest national team since 2008. However, the number has risen as registration continues while ECSA works on the logistics as well as on sponsorships. “We’re excited to announce the ladies are back in the game and we’ll certainly have a competitive squad. We’ve had a few more join the championships,” Dlamini said.

Three more players were added to the list for the senior women’s national team qualifiers and will give big names like Figaredo Pool Club’s Ncobile Dlamini, Royal Eswatini Police Service’s (REPS) Sebe Simelane-Mbingo (Good shot’s mother), the experienced Nandi Mkhwanazi, Sanchez Simelane, Baliwe Mnyakeni and Nikita Littler, among others. The latest additions are Vumile Nosipho Dlamini, Jabu Dlamini and Thandiswa Dlamini. The play-offs were initially scheduled to start last week until this weekend but new dates will be announced.

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