05 Apr 2016

Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) public relations officer, Jerry Ditlhong has appreciated a good turn up of young karatekas at the national junior team selection tournament held in Francistown on Saturday. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the tournament, Ditlhong said the event was staged in two parts with selection tournaments held concurrently in Francistown and Lobatse. 

He said they had realised that the sport was dominated by 70 per cent of juniors hence their decision to stage it in two parts.

Again, he said there was no facility in Botswana that could accommodate junior karatekas from across the country in an event of such magnitude. 

The tournaments featured young athletes aged between eight and 20 who battled it out to qualify for the national championship finals to be held in Gaborone on April 30. 

The finals, he said would be used to select a national team that would represent Botswana at the annual Zone VI Junior Karate championships to be held in Zimbabwe next month.

Further, he explained that Zone VI gold medallists would automatically qualify for the Africa senior and junior Karate championships to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 14-17.

Meanwhile, Ditlhong indicated that while Botswana continued to participate and perform well in the annual Zone VI championships, junior athletes had outdone their seniors with an achievement rate of 82 per cent in the event that was held in South Africa last year.

However, he said although they were happy with the number of participants, the turn-up was lower than that in the southern part of Botswana. 

That, he explained was because a great number of athletes were exposed to the sport in the south than those in the north owing to resources availed to them, particularly in Gaborone.

Again, he said highly graded karate experts were based in Gaborone, adding there were also more schools in Gaborone, especially in English medium schools where they had karate clubs and that made it easy to attract children to the sport.

Further, he said some athletes did not participate owing to economic challenges as well as lack of support from families.

Nevertheless, Ditlhong said their target in the Zone VI was to bring more medals and eventually have more players qualify for the South Africa-bound Africa Senior and Junior Karate championships. Ends