18 Jul 2019

Keorapetse Moshodi is the inaugural winner of the Kwambala annual cup and family fun day eating competition.

In front of a large crowd of fans and up against two other contenders, Moshodi was able to finish two loaves of bread, which he washed down with a two litre Twizza drink in just 35 minutes to go home P250 richer.

Asked how he felt after the meal, he said ‘as long as I am healthy, as long as I am happy and competitive, you can count me in the next competition.’

His first drink spilled before he could finish his first loaf and he had to replace it with a 750 ml of bottled water, beating Leonard Aupit and Tebogo Malebomo who got position two and three respectively.

The competition started off as an affair for those who could eat with diabolical gusto to show off, but ended in total discomfort for one of the competitors, Malebomo, who vomited profusely and needed medical attention.

Aupit on the other hand suffered severe constipation that left him unable to finish his second loaf.Asked what happened, he said he was not aware that there would be an eating competition, so he ate before. The race to eat was a new activity in this year’s competition, commonly known as ‘Dablas July,’ which is the brain-child of Itekeng ward councillor, Lesego Kwambala and is meant to reduce social ills amongst the youth.

The tournament included a soccer challenge, five-a-side tournament, volleyball, chess, pool as well as horse racing.

One of the event organisers, Lionel Nkosi explained that the annual cup was a crowd puller that brought life to the city of Francistown, thereby boosting the local economy and providing a platform for the informal sector to sell goods and market their products.

“Dablas July is growing in leaps and bounds since its humble beginnings six years ago. The main aim of the event is to help businesses in Itekeng ward and Francistown to grow by giving small and medium entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their products to a larger market,” he added.

Kwambala stated that the event was also aimed at unearthing talent from the grassroots level and keeping the youth busy so that they did not engage in criminal activities during the holidays.

He cited that some of the players were now playing at some of the top league teams such as Jwaneng Galaxy.

Meanwhile, he explained that plans to install streets lights and floodlights at the local football pitch were underway so that some games could be played at night.

Kwambala thanked the sponsors for making the event a success, explaining that this year’s event cost in the region of P120 000.

He also donated football kits and soccer balls to be used by an aspiring team of kids from Area W as well as medals and trophies to deserving teams and individuals.

Football, which was one of the event’s drawcards, saw six teams from Itekeng ward grouped into three, slugging it out for the grand prize of P2 500.

Industrial Sporting Club and Itekeng Football Club made it to the final after beating their rivals in the groups stages.

Itekeng beat Industrial 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out after the two teams played to a one all draw in the 90 minutes and the game could not go for extra time because of darkness.

Itekeng went home P2 500 richer and also won a trophy and a kit, while Industrial Sporting Club won P1 500, a kit and trophy. ENDS