Budzwane wins five gold medals at BOTESSA Championships
Bonte Seepi | Tuesday May 5, 2015 18:00
Budzwane, a first year Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) student won five of the 17 gold medals her team, Bracket B bagged. All in all, Bracket B, which was made up of the University of Botswana (UB), ABM, New Era, Institute of DM, BIUST, and five IHS institutions, made a haul of 39 medals during the championship.
Of the total; 17 were gold medals, 12 silver and 10 bronze. Budzwane emerged the athlete of the tournament after contributing six (four gold and one silver. Bracket B successfully defended the crown they won in Francistown last year.
Budzwane was making her debut as she won gold in the 400m, 4 x 400m relay, 4 x100m relay, triple jump and long jump.
For her efforts, she was awarded another medal for being the only athlete to grab five gold medals at the competition.
Bracket A, which had Colleges of Education, Roads Training Centre and Oodi College of Applied Arts was second with 23 medals. They had amassed five gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals. Bracket C, made up of technical colleges was third and bottom with 20 medals.
BIUST Dean for Student Affairs and Campus Life, Dr Kitso Sedisa commended BOTESSA for organising a successful event.
“University or college is not only about academics. Students have to be exposed to different activities in order for them to be fully engaged.
“This helps to maintain healthy lifestyles, which will ultimately help them to cope with demands of academic life. “Athletics is by far the most successful sport in Botswana which always carries the hopes of the nation at the world stage,” said Sedisa.
He said it was commendable for universities and other academic institutions to play an important role in the development of sports.
Sedisa encouraged athletes to work hard for their successes and not cheat through the use of performance enhancing drugs.
He said the use of drugs is an issue of great concern, which needed to be addressed with vigour.
“The pressure associated with the competition had driven some athletes to resort to using performance enhancing drugs. This is cheating and we need to educate our students with a clear conscience,” he said.
Some of the athletes who were competing on Saturday stood a chance of being selected into the team that will compete at the World’s Student Games in Gwanju, South Korea.