14 Feb 2021

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) was scheduled to host track and field competition on Saturday, but athletes only learnt a day before the competition that there will be no competition.

BAA vice president, Oabona Theetso said decision to cancel the meet was taken by Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) due to lack of funds.

He said the cancellation would kill the momentum and the rhythm of athletes, given that they last competed on January 30.

“As BAA, the situation is beyond our control and we are very worried because we had wanted athletes to compete as that would give them opportunities to qualify for the Olympics and other major events,” he said.

BNSC acting chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho, said they had advised BAA to host the meet in Gaborone as most of the athletes preparing for international competitions were based in Gaborone.

He said due to COVID-19 pandemic they did not encourage inter-zone travel.

He however quashed allegations that the commission was only concerned about elite athletes only who had the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, given that they were all based and train in the Southern part of the county.

“The commission is not only focused on Olympics, but all competitions that our failure to attend/withdrawal from will result in financial penalties and or other forms of sanctions.

If we were just focusing on Olympics, we would not be supporting the Zebras as they are not preparing for the Olympics,” he said.

However, track and field analyst, Aobakwe Showa said most athletes were looking forward to qualifying for major events this year and having many disruptions was the last thing they were looking forward to.

He said in the first Francistown meet, athletes like Amon Kusekwa and Bayapo Ndori produced good times in their season openers and the cancellation of events might come as a major blow for them.

He said most athletes started training programmes earlier due to long break in 2020, and it was obvious that the main goal of an athlete’s training, was to take part in competitions, and challenge other athletes for top spot in the competition hierarchy, and achieve a high level of performance.

He said many breaks would break athlete’s momentum and could even affect them psychological. Participation in competitions, he said could elevate athletes’ preparation level adding that it was during such pre-competitive phases, that coaches can achieve a degree of training and correct peaking for their athletes and assist them to reach a high state of readiness for the main competition of the year, such as qualifying for Olympics. Ends