School term to affect COSSASA Games
Mosah Mokganedi | Thursday April 17, 2014 13:00
The chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Boitshoko Tsiane has said the games will be adversely affected because they use school facilities to accommodate participants.
Because learners will be in school, the LOC has been forced to look for alternative facilities. But already, Tsiane says some countries have complained about the cost of alternative accommodation that LOC has secured for them.
This could lead to countries sending a small number of athletes or deciding against participating in the COSSASA games to be held from April 23 to 25 in Gaborone.
By press time, only Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland had confirmed participation. Zambia and Lesotho were expected to confirm their participation by yesterday.
Besides the accommodation problem, Tsiane said it is likely that the games will have less support because learners will be sitting for examinations. Otherwise, preparations are going well for the three-day competition though the National Anti-Doping Office (NADO) is yet to provide experts to carry tests on athletes while in camp.
“We have not heard anything from their office and we hope doping tests will be done during the competition,” Tsiane said.
He stated that it is critical to start testing athletes at a young age.
The LOC is in talks with Adima Hire to secure a power generator to guard against power cuts. Tsiane could not say how many athletes are expected for the games since some countries are yet to confirm participation.