Athletes off to Birmingham on medal hunt
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday July 9, 2022 06:00
During the 2018 Games, Botswana won five medals, which included three gold, one silver, and one bronze through athletics.
The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) had set a medal target of eight, which remains the figure for this year's games. Botswana has been allocated 35 slots in Birmingham and with weightlifting gaining an outright qualification, the number increased to 36.
Botswana will compete in athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, lawn bowls, squash, swimming and weightlifting. Botswana Squash Association (BSA) coach, Koketso Ntshebe said preparations have gone well. "We received funding in May to start preparations.
We played our first event in Gqeberha (South Africa). We are playing the Dutch Open, followed by the British Open in Nottingham then proceed to the Commonwealth. The team is far behind in terms of quality.
The plan is not to expect podium finish but to use the Games to at least start building momentum to 2026," he said. Leungo Katse, 17, and Angel Otshabeng, 16, are the squash representatives. In cycling, coach David Lebalelo said they had been busy preparing for the games. "We had a training camp in Kanye last week and a race in Letlhakane.
The boys are ready and we just have to train more. We are left with a week before the Games begin. The last training will be in Birmingham so that the cyclists acclimatise and get used to the terrain. The team has been training for a month and the team participated in Namibia for the Africa Championships, " Lebalelo said. "We went for a training camp in South Africa and locally.
It is not enough but it is not as bad as one will think. Sometimes you have to prepare your athletes mentally to know the type of competition they are competing in. We have a relationship with other teams and we will be working with the Lesotho team.
They are sending the same number as us," he added. Cycling will be represented by Matlhogonolo Botlhole (Under 23 road and individual) and Gontse Molefhe (elite, road, and MTB).
In boxing, coach, Thebe Setlalekgosi was blunt in his views. "I think firstly we need to appreciate that as long as the sports community still depends on the government to continue paying fully for everything, then we will never have enough time and funding to prepare the athletes. We only got two weeks of training camp in Zambia and basically, we cannot be cry babies all the time.
We just have to get on with life and move on," he said. "We cannot complain about what we did not get because it will not help us. We have done the best we could and I have made it very clear to the boxers that with their vast experience, they should compete and I want results. They are semi-professionals and they should at times be ready for such big events," he added.
The boxers going to the Commonwealth Games are Keamogetse Kenosi (57kg), Aratwa Kasemang (60kg), Lethabo Modukanele (48kg), George Molwantwa (57kg), and Rajab Mohammed (51kg). Bowler, Marea Modutlwa said they are happy with their preparations. "The preparations started last year when we had the first national team camp for the squad in November.
In December we sent a team for a tournament in Cape Town, a Pairs tournament even though we did not win medals but we did well. We have recently arrived from another camp at The Nest in the Drakensberg.
Theuns Fraser coached us," she said. "Our main aim is to qualify for the knockout stages. We believe that we are a strong team. This week we have been camping in Gaborone. Since February we held local tournaments followed by National Championships in Orapa.
We have Tshenolo Moshokgo who won three gold medals in Singles, Pairs and Fours disciplines during the Nationals. She is skipping the Fours team and also skipping the Triples team," Modutlwa added. The bowling team consists of Modutlwa (Fours/Triples), Tshenolo Moshokgo (Fours/Triples), Boikhutso Mooketsi (Fours), Lesego Motladiile (Fours/Triples), and Gasegarona Pabalelo (coach).
The coach for the swimming team, Thobo Moleko said training has been good. "We have three athletes training in different places, James Freeman (USA), Maxine Egner (Sweden), and Adrian Robinson (South Africa).
They are coming to the end of their training cycles as we approach the Commonwealth Games, a lot of tapering and race pace work. The swimmers are with their coaches, which means they will be more than ready for the games," Moleko said.
Freeman will compete in the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyles. Athletics is the code expected to bring the most number of medals and a large contingent of the travelling party are athletes. "The team is ready. They have gone through every stage of preparation that we had planned. We are looking forward to the 2018 repeat," BAA vice president Oabona Theetso said.
The travelling athletes are Tlhomphang Basele (400m), Motlatsi Ranthe (4x400m), Christine Botlogetswe (400m), Lydia Jele (400m), Tsaone Sebele (100m), Oarabile Tshosa (100m), Nijel Amos (800m), Boitumelo Masilo (800m), Bayapo Ndori (400m), Anthony Pesela (400m), Isaac Makwala (400m), Zibane Ngozi (4x400m), Leungo Scotch (4x400m), Keitumetse Maitseo (4x400m), Victor Ntweng (400m hurdles), Thalosang Tshireletso (long jump and triple jump), and Wayne Monaiwa (long jump). Kebonyemodisa Mosimanyane is the assistant coach while Justice Dipeba travels as the coach and Amogelang Masugae is the team manager. Judo has Tirelo Lekoko (Under 73kg), Lauryn Pulamoeng (Plus 78kg), and Rene Ndoumbe who is the coach. Weightlifting has a sole representative, Kgotla Kgaswane (55kg), who is coached by Alex Rankgwe.