27 Mar 2024

Team Botswana, which represented the country at the just ended 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana has been commended for taking the games seriously, which reflected in its performance.

Officiating at the team’s welcome ceremony on Tuesday, Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare also commended team officials who accompanied the team to the games, for their patriotism by sacrificing their family time to ensure athletes received the best professional assistance to perform at their best.

“Please pass our greatest gratitude to your families. We banked on you to ensure that, within the shortest possible space of time, each athlete and official entitled to appearance fees, and where applicable, performance incentives- such are received within the shortest space of time,” he added.

Rakgare also expressed appreciation to the government for its intentional and purposeful support to sports.

Also, he thanked all the corporate partners who continued to support government by investing in Botswana sport, in general, adding that ‘the achievements we are realising are by no means not government’s alone, but yours too, and for that we are very grateful’.  

He further thanked African Union, Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, African Union Sport Council and the government and people of Ghana for successfully staging the games and in the process providing African athletes with a platform to showcase their talents and further their skills.

Sharing an overview of the games, Team Botswana chef de mission, Shadrack Kapeko expressed delight that the team put up a good performance, amidst the minor challenges it faced.

The team, he said was made up of young and mostly talented athletes who delivered their lifetime performances.

“I am proud and honoured to report that Team Botswana obtained a total of 13 medals, of which three are silver and 10 bronze, with an overall performance of 32 out of 53 nations competing at the African Games,” he said.

During the previous games in Morocco, Team Botswana finished position 17 with a total of 14 medals, being five gold, three silver and six bronze.

This Kapeko said did does not mean that this year’s performance was a total decline from the previous editions of the games.

“I want all Batswana to understand that this year’s participation at the African Games was totally different from the previous ones.

This was focused toward building a strong team in the run up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The games were used as preparations to qualify more teams to the Olympics and even beyond,” he added.

He applauded the beach volleyball team for reaching the podium finish on its first appearance at the African Games and achieving the first medal by the ball sport at the this year’s African Games.

Also, he praised the basketball team, who were the new comers, for displaying great skill and eventually being ranked 4th out of the 16 teams.

Speaking on behalf of the team, Taekwondo athlete, Karabo Zoe Kula appreciated government, through the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, and the entire sport leadership for all the support extended to the team.

She also commended her team members for their efforts and encouraged them to embrace all their losses and wins.

Botswana National Olympic Committee senior vice president, Tshepo Sitale thanked the minister for having made time to officially welcome Team Botswana despite being on leave.

Also, he thanked athletes, team managers, medical teams and coaches for displaying true patriotism. ENDS