14 Apr 2016

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has sent a team of five athletes to Australia for the closely contested Australian Open.

Speaking from Sydney where they jetted in on Wednesday March 13, team manager, Uyapo Kuli said as part of their sport and recreation development as an institution that regards sport highly, they send athletes to competitive tournaments for exposure.

BDF is known for producing some of the country’s finest karatekas in the mould of Kofukan chief instructor, Million Masumbika, national team coach, George Tshikare and Andrew Dobolo who, despite being excelling athletes, also served as officers in the army.

The team in Sydney is under the tutelage of SSKB karate club chief instructor, Peter Molefhe, a renowned kumite mentor who has had a stint with the senior team at highly competitive regional tournaments such as the recent Zone VI in Johannesburg.

The team comprises Ofentse Bakwadi, Kaene Kago, Mogakolodi Motlhabi, Nelson Matshamekwane and Oratile Caiphus. Bakwadi has just returned from Las Vegas where he took part in the annual US Open. Kago brings in an array of experience having travelled to Australia in 2011 with the senior karate team for the Commonwealth karate championships where he won six medals in partnership with the likes of Vicky Majama, Mpho Bosenakitso and Thato Malunga amongst others.

The trio of Motlhabi, Caiphus and Matshamekwane are also fresh from the Kofukan World Cup which was hosted in the southern coastal city of Asker in Norway last year.

The tournament will come in handy for the local karate governing body, Botswana Karate Association’s (BOKA) preparations ahead of this year’s African Karate Federation (UFAK) senior championships in July.

Before this, the national team will take part in the regional Zone VI tournament slated for the last weekend of May in Harare.

The association will send a senior team and a junior team that is yet to be assembled. The training camp for the tournament is penciled for the beginning of May. ENDS