27 Mar 2019

The third Gaborone International Meet (GIM) has received P410 000 from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development.

GIM’s general manager, Kitso Kemoen said the money would go towards athletes’ appearance fees and prize money since they were a huge deterrent for athletes to participate.

Kemoen, who was was giving a media update on March 26, said through the ministry commitment, the GIM had managed to attract most of the local athletes’ cream as well as international stars from as far as Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda as well as Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa among others.

 Local athletes who would participate in the competition include Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Karabo Sibanda and Kabelo Kgosiemang among others in the male category.

While the female category will include the likes of Amantle Montsho, Christine Botlogetswe, Leungo Matlhaku and Tsaone Sebele.

“We have received full commitment consignment of athletes from Nigeria, Zambia and Cameroon,” pointed Kemoeng.

He further said that they would continue with Btv for the live broadcast of the event. The local organising committee chairperson, Naledi Dikgomo-Goulden said they there were building on the hype towards the event.

 She said even the names of the athletes attracted to the event were likely to attract a sizeable crowd to the event.  Furthermore, she stated the GIM would continue to release the names of the athletes as they confirmed participation.

However, Kemoen decried the last meetings crowd attendance, saying it was not at as per their expectations and satisfaction. He said their dream was to see Batswana filling up the national stadium to see their stars in action.

The third Gaborone International Meet will be held at the National Stadium and is sanctioned by Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) and endorsed by both the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and Confederation of African Athletics (CAA). ENDS