10 Jan 2018

In an effort to ensure that more athletes qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and IAAF World U20 Championships, Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) will start season early with a mouth-watering BAA Super Night meet this evening at the National Stadium.

Today’s event, is expected to attract a lot of top athletes such as 400m runners, Baboloki Thebe, Karabo Sibanda, Amantle Montsho and Christine Botlogetswe.

BAA vice president, Kenneth Kikwe said in an interview that, they found it prudent to kickstart their season early to give athletes opportunity to qualify for major competitions in the athletics calendar for this year.

Furthermore, he said they had decided to start their season early because the Commonwealth Games would be in April, therefore it was important for them to start in earnest.  

“Qualifying early has proved to be advantageous to both athletes and technical team, as it gives them ample time to prepare for the competition,” he said.

Furthermore, Kikwe said they had a team, which had been in camp, as such it was paramount for the technical team to gauge their performance.

He said their initial plan was to hold the BAA Super Night meet on Saturday (January 13), but due to unavailability of the stadium they had to settle for today.

“Thursday is still fine with us because most of our senior athletes do not attend schools while others are in Gaborone and surrounding areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, 2018 seems to be one of the busiest year in the athletics calendar.

In March, there will be IAAF Half Marathon Championships in Spain, followed by Commonwealth Games while the Diamond League will be in Doha in May.  

Still in May, Kingston will host the IAAF World Challenge while the IAAF World U20 Championships will be in July.

Thebe, Nijel Amos and Botswana’s 4x400m men’s relay are expected to defend their tittles at the CAA Africa Senior Championships, which will be held in Nigeria.

In September, Africa will come together as a team to compete with other continents during the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava. ENDS