09 Aug 2016

Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa (COSSASA) vice president technical, Solly Duiker says Botswana is ready to host the 2016 ball games.

Duiker who is country to tour the facilities that will be used during the games from August 24-26, said he was happy with the progress made by the Local Organising Committee  (LOC) and the facilities.

He said the LOC, had worked very hard to ensure that they deliver a very successful competition, adding that they were impressed.

Furthermore, he said as COSSASA they had never doubted Botswana, given that every time they were given rights to host any major event it became a very huge success.

“Botswana has never dropped COSSASA, that’s why we are always excited when they host events,” he said.

Duiker said with ball games it was a different story compared to athletics, given that a lot of playing facilities were  needed.

The LOC, he said had presented to COSSASA venues of high level, amongst them Marua-pula, Livingstone Kolobeng, Lekidi and Botswana National Youth Council grounds. “As African country we are used to facilities that are not of high quality but the one’s I have seen here in Botswana speaks high volume, and the fields are better the one we have seen elsewhere in Africa,” he said.

He further said five countries that had confirmed to participate were the host Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Swaziland.

He said Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe would bring their full squad that would represent in football, netball, rugby, volleyball, basketball, and tennis.

However, he said Lesotho and Swaziland would not be able to bring their full squad due to financial constraint. 

He pointed out that South Africa had been not part of COSSASA for the past six years, because they did not have a school sports union, as COSSASA consist of school sports federations. In that regard, he said his organisation was busy revamping their constitution to allow South Africa to participate.

He said there was no doubt that COSSASA was a stepping stone for the international arena like the Olympics. 

“Botswana’s 400 metre runner , would not have realised his dreams if he didnt go thourh COSSASA,” he said.  Ends