Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Federation of Lesotho Teqball (FeLTEQ) has launched teqball for two primary schools and eight high schools from Mafeteng, Berea, Leribe and Maseru. Teqball is a new sport in the country that was initially introduced in 2021, and it was only officially launched on Tuesday in schools.
Teqball is a football-based sport, played on a specially-curved table, and it was established in Hungary as a hobby and has attracted a new generation of athletes and amateur enthusiasts, whose ambition is to develop their technical skills, concentration and stamina.
The sport is now recognised worldwide including by Association of National Olympic Committees Africa (ANOCA) and it has been added to beach games. The federation’s Khotso Mahloko demonstrated that the sport is played in an open spaced room or outside and it can be played in singles, doubles or mixed doubles competition.
“Knees, feet, chest, shoulders, head and the back of the body are the parts that are used to play teqball, not arms and hands, and participants cannot touch the ball with the same body part three times before returning it to the opponents,” he said.
“It is more into football rules even though it is structured like volley ball,” he said.
In 2021 it was introduced to home clubs but the sport did not garner any popularity among the clubs, hence the decision to change direction to schools.
“We then opted that if we can start in primary and high schools, children will adopt this sport quickly and see if in the next five years we can have participants that can challenge the continent,” he said.
One of the schools where the sport is already being played is Lithabaneng High School and one of the players, Moeketsane Ntee, said they started playing two weeks ago and he is always looking forward to it.
He has been drawn to the sport particularly because he also plays football even though he admitted he has now fallen in love with teqball more. Fono Kopeka, a teacher at Lesotho High School which is also one of the schools that has adopted the sport, said he came to the event clueless but he realised that Teqball is a sport of interest.
He said it is about thinking and consistency. “The rules of this sport, using the body parts requires fast and open minded participants because the space provided is very tight,” he said.
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