By Bereng Mpaki

MASERU- The annual National Team Cup Taekwondo Championship has been scheduled for February 4 at the Sefika High School Hall in Maseru.

The tournament—which is taking place for the second year running—is expected to feature all the 32 registered taekwondo clubs from around the country.

Each club is expected to have 10 fighters—five  male and five female—at the tournament.

“These are internationally-recognised events, whose  main purpose is to improve the state of taekwondo in the country,” said the Lesotho Taekwondo Association vice-president, Mr Mojapela ‘Mefane, on Monday this week.

According to ‘Mefane, there would not be any monetary prizes, but only trophies and medals for the winners.

“The LTA is funding the entire event as we don’t have any sponsors. The association is still trying to lobby potential-sponsors, but so far, we have not been successful, so we are funding the event from the little that we have,” ‘Mefane added.

The Lesotho Correctional Service clubs won the inaugural event in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Lesotho taekwondo team could not  take part in the 2012 London Olympic Games qualifiers held in Egypt early this month, due to lack of funds.

Three fighters were supposed to have travelled to Cairo for the January 11-12 event—only to abort the trip because of funding constraints.

“The association ran out of funds after holding some technical courses and attending the Confederation of Southern African Taekwondo Associations games last year. Efforts to get additional funds drew a blank, leading to the cancellation of the trip.

“However, we are still hopeful of sending a representative because small countries like Lesotho usually get a free slot in certain sporting codes, at the Games.”

The Olympics are set for London from July 27 to  August 12 this year.