12 Mar 2026

Six countries have so far confirmed their participation in the Lefika International Relays 2026, which will be held on March 28 at the National Stadium.

The event will serve as one of curtain raisers, as the country is preparing to host the World Athletics Relays. Spectators should therefore brace themselves for a spectacular track event which has attracted countries like Poland, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

Botswana, Zambia, Nigerian and South Africa will field teams in the 4x100m women relay, while the 4x100m men relay will feature the trio of Botswana, Zambia and Nigeria.

So far, Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa and Poland have confirmed their participation in the 4x100m mixed relay.Botswana, Zambia and Nigeria will be in the 4x400m women and men relays, while 4x400m mixed relays will feature the host Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria.

Lefika Athletics Club secretary, Dineo Basitang said preparations were going well. She said the only challenge they were facing was lack of sponsors. However, she emphasised that this year’s event would be big, given that they were expecting more countries to confirm their participation. Basitang said countries will use the Lefika Relays to gauge their readiness for the World Relays as well as to acclimatise.

She said the event was of high magnitude as it would be used as the 2026 World Athletics Relays qualifier, hence they were expecting more countries who were yet to qualify for the World Relays to try their luck at the event. Also, she said the relays would also be used as a dry run for the 2026 World Athletics Relays to be held in Gaborone on May 2-3.

“We are expecting the World Relays to access the referees, volunteers and all other logistics to identify areas that needed more attention before the World Relays,” she said.

Basitang said the event would be recorded in the history books of Lefika Relays, as for the first time the number of countries that confirmed their participation had increased satisfactorily, compared with only two that featured in the last edition.  She said tickets were already on sale online and the VVIP stand was P500, premium stands tickets sell at P200 while other stands sell at P50. BOPA