‘DODGE’, RAYNOR IN ALL AFRICA’S BEST 10

MBABANE – Eswatini cue sport has made a positive comeback to the international scene, despite any silverware from the recent All Africa Blackball Championships in Zambia.

Eswatini returned to the international pool (cue sport) world in March this year - two decades after an absence due to power battles in the initial national body, Billiards Association of Swaziland (BAS). However, the country had some individuals leaving a mark in the games while the two senior national squads, men and ladies crashed out. Crash out the squads did, but the country has some good news from the tournament as it has come out that two of the men’s team members, Sithembiso ‘Dodge’ Matsebula and Brian Raynor - both seasoned stars having also played in the national team before and got world ranked - were in the top 10 best in this year’s championships that played on March 4-6. They were ranked by the All Africa Pool Association (AAPA).

frames

According to CueSport2.com, ‘Dodge’ and Raynor ranked ninth but due to frames difference, the former on top and the latter completing the top 10. On the lead is Raynor’s opponent, Aden Joseph from South Africa (SA), his renowned teammates in the country Fezile Kweza on eighth in the rankings. Zambia’s Victor Sinyiza is the only one ranked from the host nation and comfortably sits on second. The tournament rankings were availed as of early yesterday morning and over 90 players had taken part this year.

proud

“I am so proud. This shows that if our government and business community can invest in cue sports, we can go a long way as a sporting code. This makes me and definitely my country very proud, especially after being away from the international scene for so many years and then go there sifike sibeke indvuku ebandla (leave a mark) makes me very proud,” ‘Dodge’ said while Raynor was not immediately available. Eswatini Cue Sport Association (ECSA) President Muntu Dlamini affirmed the AAPA rankings and explained that they were only for the AAPA Championships.

responsible

“I think I’ll be discussing it with my committee and probably with the Technical Committee which is responsible for ranking. It must be taken into account. This shows we are up there with the big sharks,” he said. Dlamini also said this was a sign that the country could do better in the world championships billed for Morocco in October this year. One other player among those who had been world ranked before include Correctional Services’ Flag Nxumalo. However, ECSA just started ranking players domestically and would submit to the international federation for world ranking sooner or later.

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