09 Feb 2014

Karate has continued its dominance as the number one medal winning sport in Botswana to date.

Also, performance of junior players from the northern part of the country has demonstrated signs of improvement in the last three years.

Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) public relations officer, Jerry Ditlhong said this in an interview at the northern junior karate championships in Francistown over the weekend.

Ditlhong said the other championship was taking place at the same time in Gaborone and medallists from the two championships would meet in Gaborone in March where the national team which will compete in the Zone 6 games in Zambia would be selected.

Also, he explained that some of the karatekas who were taking part in the championship were part of the national team that went to Namibia last year.

Juniors, Ditlhong added, constituted 60 per cent of BOKA membership, noting that after the age of 20 they graduated to become seniors. In addition, the BOKA spokesperson asserted that while in the past the south dominated the national team, the situation was improving as players from the north were making inroads into the national team.

Concerning the championship, he also said every club was responsible for participation of its players, adding that 12 clubs managed to participate. However, he indicated that there were some clubs that sent players without payment and that denied them opportunity to compete.

The standard of karate, he highlighted had grown tremendously over the years as Botswana had managed to win a silver medal during the Africa cup in the senior category in 2012 while in 2013, the junior category also brought home a silver medal.

That, he said, was a big achievement considering the fact that the country competed with karate powerhouses in North African giants such as Morocco who are more exposed owing to their proximity to Europe, especially Spain.

“Their proximity to Spain gives them an edge over us as they have top quality preparations, hence winning a silver medal against such high quality opponents shows that we are headed in the right direction,” he said.

On other issues, Ditlhong said the improved performance was also linked to the fact that they have been bringing top quality instructors from abroad to grill local coaches and referees during coaching clinics.

In November last year, he said they also sent three of their officials, two referees and a coach to Spain who passed their courses for the first time.

“We had been sending officials in the past and they did not do well and this time we could attribute their success to the fact that our officials had benefitted from the experts we had brought into the country for coaching clinics.”

That, on its own, according to Ditlhong, would benefit BOKA and the country because officials now have the opportunity to officiate during world cup tournaments and be engaged by other countries to share the knowledge. ENDS