Paralympians opt out of Youth Games
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday April 10, 2014 10:14
Locally, Botswana was also facing challenges in raising a team. With the new development, the Paralympic Association of Botswana (PASSOBO) is now focusing on next year’s All Africa Games and the Olympics in 2016. PASSOBO spokesperson, Phenyo Makaba said they did not select a team for the Africa Youth Games because they do not have a database they can use to locate athletes.
Makaba pointed out that when they came into office in May last year, they did not find records. He said that it is important for the athletes to be located and put in camp on time before they go for competitions. PASSOBO intends to create a new database for future competitions.
Makaba said a lot need to be done to put a team together. He said they had to find out the criteria needed to select the team first and to secure adequate funding.
In a communiqué, PASSOBO president, Shirley Keoagile said the IPC and APC has been analysing the opportunities and challenges they will face in attempting to participate in the African Youth Games. “As you can imagine, as the Paralympic Movement we want to invest in events that we know for sure will have a significant impact on the Paralympic Movement of Botswana, African and the world and are also events that may have an official qualification for other major sporting events,” she said. Keoagile said that APC is currently putting priorities for African Paralympic movement and opted to focus on the next All African Games in Brazzaville, Congo next year and other competitions that have the criteria for qualification for World Championships and Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Meanwhile, PASSOBO will hold a strategic workshop in Gaborone next weekend. The workshop will address constitutional amendments, policies, four-year action plan and the alignment of PASSOBO strategic plan to the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) plan