30 Jul 2024

Botswana may not be represented in other sporting code at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but it has representation in match officials in the likes of Gaone Poane and Dorothy Okatch.

Poane, one of Botswana’s top tennis official, will be officiating at the Olympics for the second time in a row.

She made the cut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she executed her duties diligently.

The Botswana Tennis Association president, Oaitse Thipe, said Poane had been a good ambassador for the country.

He said she was not only new to doing officiating duties on international assignments, as 

she was the only Motswana and one of the two women officials from Africa assigned to work as International Tennis officials at the Tokyo Olympics.

Also, he said she officiated at the major tennis tournaments including the Wimbledon and French open, Australian Open, Women Tennis’ Association (WTA), Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) tournaments as well as the Austria and Belgium 2022 tournaments.Her achievements, he said should be an inspiration to many that one could make a career out officiating.

He said she had officiated as a line umpire, as chair umpire and as tournament uupervisor. 

Thipe highlighted that Poane would be a referee for the World ITF J30 and J60 starting on the August 12 at the National Tennis Centre. 

Okatch, a Botswana Basketball Association FIBA accredited umpire is also at the Olympics to take up the role of match official.

The Botswana Basket Association president, Boinelo Hardy, said they were proud as a country that their umpire had made it to the ultimate sport competition. 

She said also it was a huge deal for the country for a Motswana woman to make it to the Olympics, adding that it was also part of their strategy to ensure growth in all spheres.  Ends