22 Oct 2019

Botswana Judo Federation (BJF) is impressed by the level of competitiveness of their young judokas.

That was revealed by the federation’s competition director sensei, Ishmael Thaga at the annual national development competition hosted at the Keisuke Itsubu dojo over the weekend.

Sensei Thaga said the closely contested tournament that the federation hosts each year focused on the under 19 judokas and to gauge progress made with regards to the ambitious youth projects Re Ba Bona Ha and Judo2schools. He said the competition also served as a positive launch pad for future events such as the oncoming Botswana Games penciled for December.

Sensei Thaga highlighted that BJF had a deliberate plan to develop a pool of local coaches and had therefore attached senior players to most of the primary schools to give instructions to the budding judokas.

He said since they rolled out the technical expertise to the primary schools, the federation had observed massive development of the technique and great motivation from their athletes.

He added that they were planning to open more clubs using the same junior coaches who had undergone international judo federation level one coaching course.

Over 170 judokas converged at the dojo representing eight clubs from Gaborone and the surrounding villages.

The tournament also featured the newly opened Matlala development club from Tlokweng and Regent Hill from Block 9 in Gaborone.

Meanwhile, Mmopane Re Ba Bona Ha development club ruled the roost on Saturday with a total of 53 medals, 21 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze.

It was followed by Phillp Moshotle development club with three gold, eight silver and two bronze medals while Masa development settled for the third spot with five gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

The other participating clubs were Lesedi development club, Botsalano development club from Tlokweng and Stepping Stones development club from Mochudi. ENDS