{"id":30819,"date":"2023-07-17T18:34:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T18:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland"},"modified":"2023-07-17T19:17:04","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T19:17:04","slug":"womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women\u2019s Softball World Cup qualifiers that took off with Botswana versus Ireland on Tuesday in Dublin this week.<\/b><\/p>\n

The games will end on 16 July.<\/p>\n

Teams that finish in Positions One and Two from their respective groups will earn a berth in the World Cup later this year.<\/p>\n

Participating teams<\/p>\n

The World Cup qualifiers will be contested in three groups, namely Group A that is hosted by Ireland, Group B hosted by Spain, and Group C in Italy.<\/p>\n

Botswana is pitted against Ireland, Australia, the United States of America (USA), Chinese Taipei and Great Britain in Group A.<\/p>\n

Prior to the games, Botswana qualified alongside South Africa in qualifiers that were held in Gaborone in January.<\/p>\n

Groups<\/p>\n

The World Cup qualifiers will be contested in three groups being Group A that is hosted by Ireland, Group B hosted by Spain and Group C in Italy.<\/p>\n

Group B has the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, China, South Africa and Cuba while Group C comprises Italy, Japan, Canada, Venezuela, New Zealand and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Botswana\u2019s squad is dominated by youthful players with a smattering of experienced players to guide the team throughout the competition.<\/p>\n

Youthful squad<\/p>\n

Among others, the team is made up of Monkgosi Hulela, Lebitso Mpitsa, Wangu Gondo, Amantle Matome and Bonolo Molefhe.<\/p>\n

They are led by coaches Ross Mosupakwena, Gopolang Matsila and Ayumi Yokosawa who came on board after Tawina Phibion and Disang Selemogwe were suspended earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the team\u2019s sendoff ceremony, Coach Mosupankwe said their main aim is to finish in the Top Two to qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

One intention<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been hard at work and the preparations have been on point even though we were training locally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done our best to be ready for these games and I believe my team is ready. We have only one intention, which is to finish in in the Top Two of our group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t played any of our opponents lately but we have done our assignment and are ready to take on the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

More advanced<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s senior player, Bonolo Molefhe, is keenly aware of the force they face in their opponents. \u201cThese countries are more advanced than us,\u201d she told.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have good resources and facilities that enable them to prepare well for games of this magnitude. But we are prepared and are going to fight with we have to accomplish our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

PULL QUOTE: The team\u2019s senior player, Bonolo Molefhe, is keenly aware of the force they face in their opponents.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women\u2019s Softball World Cup qualifiers that took off with Botswana versus Ireland on Tuesday in Dublin this week. The games will end on 16 July. Teams that finish in Positions One and Two from their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-30819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\"},\"wordCount\":469,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\",\"name\":\"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland - Botswana","description":"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland","og_description":"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland","datePublished":"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland"},"wordCount":469,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland","name":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-17T18:34:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-17T19:17:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Botswana\u2019s national softball team has arrived in Ireland ahead of the highly-anticipated World Baseball Softball Conf ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1689602700.620191.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/womens-national-softball-team-starts-world-cup-quest-in-ireland#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women\u2019s National Softball Team Starts World Cup Quest in Ireland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}