31 Jan 2016

The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Thapelo Olopeng says his ministry has been allocated land in Palapye to set up an international horse racing track.

Speaking at the Mascom Volleyball League awards, Olopeng said the facility would grow the sport of horse racing in Botswana.

He explained that when he took over the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, he set himself three main objectives.

“Firstly,  I wanted to professionalise sport. Secondly, I wanted to see the quality of delivered programmes improve, and thirdly I wanted to attend to the dignity of athletes and volunteers in sport,” he said.

Olopeng indicated that when athletes feel valued and appreciated, they become better for the benefit of the whole country and the growth of sport.

 “And when sport grows, we have more sponsors coming on board and the rewards increase too,” he said.

He said Mascom Wireless Botswana should be commended for its involvement in various sporting codes.

“What is impressive about this mobile giant is that they do not only come on board when things are good and teams are winning.

They start at the beginning of the journey and this is something that should be commended very highly,” he said.

He said Mascom was involved with other sporting codes such as horse racing, netball, motorsport and cycling to mention but a few.

He commended Mascom for instilling a culture of investing in sport without fear of failure. 

He urged other private entities to follow suit for sport to stand a chance of growing to even greater heights.

“I want to reiterate that through my ministry, the government will continue to support different national sporting codes, and I want to inform you that 2016 is a turning point for us,” he said.

He added that the government has taken a deliberate decision of encouraging citizens and people living in Botswana to wear national colours every Friday.

“This is the year we turn 50 as a nation and I am pleading with you to factor that in your everyday lives and do something leading to our jubilee month,” said Olopeng.

For his part, the chief executive officer of Mascom Wireless Botswana, Jose Viera Couceiro said for the past five years, their partnership with volleyball has seen tremendous growth within the sport.

He said Mascom was honoured to have contributed to the growth of sport in Botswana, adding that the company would be with volleyball for the sixth consecutive year in 2016.

The big winners of the night was Kutlwano volleyball team, the men and female teams, with each pocketing P100 000 for winning their respective 2015 league titles.

Second position went to Mafolofolo volleyball teams (females) and Police VI (males), who  walked away with P70 000 each.

Kalavango volleyball team (females) and BDF VI (males) got position three with a prize tag of P60 000.

As for the Top 8 honours, Mafolofolo volleyball team (females) and Kutlwano volleyball team (males) both scooped P40 000 for winning the competition.  Ends