All hands on deck as Youth Games preps hit top gear
Mqondisi Dube | Thursday January 23, 2014 15:22
Botswana Africa Youth Games Organising Committee (BAYGOC) chief executive officer Tuelo Serufho set the tone during a press briefing in Gaborone yesterday when he made a clarion call to all Batswana to ensure the Games are success.
'There is no turning back, Gaborone 2014 is here. We are beginning a historic journey,' Serufho said.
He said when the country bid for the Games it was not entirely for sporting reasons. Instead, he said they were looking at the plethora of opportunities that the competition presents. The Games will bring together 2, 500 athletes from 54 countries to compete in 21 disciplines.
'We are heavily reliant on diamonds, so this (the Games) is a way of diversifying the economy through event based tourism, and what a better way to do it through sport.'
He said how Botswana handles the Youth Games would be critical in determining winning rights to host bigger events in future. The Games presents the country with an opportunity to host its biggest ever event.
'We are not a sporting nation, but we will do all it takes to market ourselves and make Botswana known. At the conclusion of the Games, we will go down in history as one of the countries that successfully hosted an international competition,” Serufho said.
The inaugural Youth Games were hosted by Morocco in 2010, but Gaborone 2014 will be bigger as there are five more disciplines added and double the number of athletes participating.
“Fencing has been added as the 21st discipline since it is an Olympic sport and will be there in Nanjing (Olympics Youth Games in China). Again, it is not popular in Botswana but we hope there will be an interest after the Games,” he said.
Serufho said the Games’ theme was “Unleashing Africa’s stars”, and it resonates with the competition’s aim. “We are indeed unleashing Africa’s talent through the Games we are hosting. Three disciplines will be used as qualifying events for Nanjing 2014 while tennis players will earn ranking points,” he said Serufho noting that BAYGOC was doing an exceptional job despite constraints in manpower.
He gave an example of the forthcoming Nanjing Games where there are more than 1, 000 members of the organising committee for a competition with 3,600 athletes while the BAYGOC will have under a 100 members when the Gaborone Games kick off.
Meanwhile, Serufho said the water and electricity issues remain a challenge and the committee was in touch with the service providers – Botswana Power Corporation and Water Utilities Corporation.
Gaborone Dam levels remain critical due to insignificant inflow while load shedding has returned. “We are in touch with the Gaborone City Council over these issues. If water levels do not improve then we have to seek alternatives,” he said.
The organisers are still looking to raise P25 million to augment the P50 million already in the kitty. However, Serufho was optimistic because the corporate world had shown willingness to assist.
BAYGOC chief operations officer Kitso Kemoeng said the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources had designated a person to the BAYGOC. He said venues would be available after concerns that the soccer season might disrupt availability of stadia. “There is support from the Premier League. Affiliates have been informed to suspend activities for the duration of the competition so that there are no competing events,” Kemoeng said.