CITY Eagles Netball Club hosted a successful two-day Africa Women's Month commemoration netball tournament over the weekend.
Held at Lehakoe Recreational Centre Grounds, the tournament was staged in recognition of women's excellence, strength and resilience.
The tournament attracted 31 teams from Lesotho and South Africa, who battled for honours in three categories. These were females (13 teams), males (six teams) and females juniors (12 teams).
South Africa's Pumas proved too hot to handle for the local teams as they scooped the first position in the females' category.
That was after beating the LDF by a 20-9 score in the final.
LMPS on the other hand, occupied the first podium stand in the males' competition, following their 20-18 victory over Leseli Tigers in the final.
Leqele First Number became the juniors' category winners after beating their sister team, Leqele Development 21- 10, in that category's final.
Winners in both male and female categories were blessed with M1 200 and a trophy each.
The runners-up received silver medals and M800.
The winners in the juniors' category walked away with M500 and gold medals, while the second placed team received M300 and silver medals.
Naledi Funeral Planners sponsored the tournament to the tune of M50 000.
In an interview with the Lesotho Times this week, City Eagles team manager, Matšepo Mohau, expressed her excitement for the success and attendance of the tournament.
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"We are very happy with the turn up, it was successful and more than what we expected," Mohau said.
She said they were considering making it an annual event as more sponsors had shown interest to come on board next year.
Mohau said they were going bigger in 2025 as they had attracted more sponsors.
Meanwhile, on Sunday shortly after the tournament, Naledi Funeral Planners Sales and Marketing Manager, 'Makhabo Lehloenya, told the Lesotho Times that they had found it befitting to sponsor the tournament.
Her company, Lehloenya said, was committed to contributing to the growth of sport.
"We have identified sports as an area that has been sidelined, so as one of the private sector players, we want to invest in sports to help it grow," Lehloenya said.
"We also want to focus on women to uplift and make them feel empowered. We want to encourage them to start participating in different sporting activities, hence our support for this tournament."
