26 Aug 2024

The Botswana Darts Association (BDA) National Team, which was sent off on Friday for the Region V games in Matsapha, eSwatini has promised to bring victory trophies back home.

In an interview after the sending off ceremony, team captain,Tomeletso Poloka said preparations for the tournament have been going well.

“Judging from such, we expect to defend the 2022 Youth Cup we won in Namibia and the overall best team trophy from the same tournament. We are also hopeful to defend the 2023 Youth trophy we won last year in Zambia,” he said.

Poloka said they were also committed to bringing home other trophies in the ladies, men and veterans categories.

He said because of the past success by Team Botswana, they were well aware that focus would now be on them.

“Everyone will aim to dethrone us, so we motivate players everyday to remind them that we are going for war. If we missed any trophies in the past we will bring them,” he assured.

BDA president, Buyani Zongwani said he had no doubt in the abilities of the team as it was the strongest ever assembled, and chosen on merit than favouritism.He however, cautioned them not to bask too much in past glories, but work hard each time.

“We are used to gold as BDA, so we should not aim for anything less. I know that challenges exist in sport such as financial shortages and BDA is categorised in the lower tier by the Botswana National Sports Commission, meaning we get less annual allotment,” he said.

He said this sometimes forced players to make personal financial contributions to complement the government stipend, as he said was the case with the current trip to eSwatini.

“With this spirit, we can deliver and amaze the rest of the sporting fraternity. BDA has been running self-sponsored leagues for the past 10 years and if it was other sporting codes, they would have long folded their arms,” said Zongwani.

Director of business development and property management at BNSC, Makuke Makuke also expressed confidence in the team to defend the cups.

“These days, there is a lot of expectation on any sporting code that goes out, and it will be the case with you,” he said.

Makuke also raised concern about substance abuse in the sporting family, and urged the team to guard against such and instead focus on clean sport.

He said current trophies were a sign of commitment and that BDA had an ambition and need assistance to further excel.

“We also appreciate your volunteerism by self-sponsoring even while on national duty. Come back with positive results so that it would be easier to advocate for you,” he said.

Makuke also advised the BDA to draft proposals to the private sector for financial assistance, and that BNSC could assist in the drafting.

The team has a total of 25 athletes,  which compromises of six U-25 members, six senior ladies, eight senior men and five veterans.  The tournament will run from August 26 to 31 and the team is expected back home on September 1. Ends