01 Sep 2014

The year 2014 is undoubtedly the year of Botswana sport considering the major sporting events and gains, particularly the hosting of the second Africa Youth Games, the acting minister of Youth, Sport, and Culture, Vincent Seretse, has said.

Speaking at a welcome ceremony for the team thatepresented Botswana at the Commonwealth and Youth Olympic games on Sunday, the minister said two athletes brought silver medals from the Youth Olympic Games, while four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal emerged from the Senior Africa Athletics Championships, and a gold medal from the Commonwealth Games.

Minister Seretse, however, said it was imperative to start planning for the 2014 Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games, All Africa Games and 2015 Youth Commonwealth Games, as well as the 2016 Olympic Games that will be held in Rio de Janeiro.

“As much as we celebrate our achievement this year, let’s starts planning for the oncoming competitions; the achievement by our athletes has given us direction on where to look for our future stars,” he said.

He further said the nation was ecstatic as the Botswana flag was hoisted and the national anthem was sung in the packed Glasgow Stadium after Nijel Amos had won gold at the Commonwealth Games.

He said team Botswana also made history by attaining the first ever medals at the Youth Olympic Games following their introduction in 2010.

Minister Seretse said the silver medals won by Baboloki Thebe, and Karabo Sibanda were worth celebrating given that Botswana’s flag was also hoisted at the medal ceremony together with that of other countries.

He further said the country was also represented at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships where Botswana athletes managed to win six medals making the country proud.

As such, he encouraged all athletes who did not win medals at the recent competitions to work hard and strive to be on the podium at the next competitions.

“You have the guidance and motivation of learning from superstars such as Nijel Amos and Isaac Makwala, among others,” he encoumraged.

Minister Seretse said the young athletes had given their country hope for the future of Botswana sport, given that the country’s ability to compete against the best around the world has been tested with encouraging results.

Glasgow’s head of delegation, Letsholo Letsholo said when they undertook the journey to Glasgow, they had promised the nation that they were going there to compete well, adding the team did exactly that.

He said all the team members that were present at the Commonwealth did their best, despite the fact that games of that magnitude were a “lose and win situation.”

Letsholo said they had learnt a lot from the competition; therefore they would take the lessons so that all those who did not win will have improved in the coming games.

He said continuity in sport was important, adding that in the last competitions there were athletes who took part in Beijing and China.

“It is important to have continuity given that most of the countries that were performing well did that because they had history of good performance,” he said. ENDS