Russia agree to re-send wrestling mats

Calistus Kolantsho | Friday September 11, 2015 14:39

The mats were shipped to Durban, South Africa but remained uncollected until they were returned to Russia in July.

He told Mmegi Sport yesterday on his return from the World Wrestling Congress, that was held in Las Vegas, that new arrangements have been made for the delivery of the mats. Sharp said Russia has agreed to foot the bill again for the shipping of the mats. He said the new arrangement is to have the mats delivered at Botswana’s dry port in Walvis Bay, Namibia. BWF nearly lost out on the donation from RWF due to a break-down in communication.

Meanwhile, Sharp said African countries have urged the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to assist them develop wrestling in the continent. He said the main challenges facing the continent is lack of equipment like mats, qualified referees, judges and mats chairmen. He said the situation is worse in Botswana because the sport is still new. Sharp said the WWF has agreed to assist the continent where possible. He said since the sport is now part of the Olympics Games, most countries are competing to qualify for Rio 2016.

“It has been split into two disciplines; freestyle and Greco-Roman, which are further divided into different weight categories,” he said.

Sharp said some of the African countries expected to qualify for the Olympics are Namibia, South Africa and Ivory Coast. He said the countries competed in the WWF championships that were held in Las Vegas this week. “It is unfortunate that we start our programmes late but we would have liked to be part of the qualifications. We have ironed out delays around the late release of our grant by the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC),” he said.

He added that his trip to the WWF congress was funded by the BNSC.

He said BWF development programme has seen a huge response from the community of Selebi-Phikwe. He said they have decided to concentrate on grassroots development. Sharp said it is important for the sport to be introduced to athletes at a tender age. Sharp said wrestling is not a dangerous sport as many people think and urged parents to allow their children to be part of it. He said they decided to scrap off other clubs and BWF only has clubs in Selebi-Phikwe, Francistown, Maun, Gaborone and Mochudi. Sharp called upon the private sector to assist wrestling with sponsorship. He said since the sport is still new, the companies stand a chance of getting mileage.