False start for sports
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday March 5, 2021 12:41
This comes at a time when a number of sport associations were starting their seasons. There was a glimmer of hope when sport activities were resumed towards the end of last year, following a hugely disrupted 2020 season.
Prior to last Friday’s announcement, most sport codes were getting back on track.
The Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) was to kick start the 2021 National Offroad Championship this Saturday in Kopong. The event was initially scheduled for February 27, but was postponed by a week to allow riders to sort out their licence and insurance submissions. BMS earlier this week announced an indefinite postponement of the event through a statement casting a bleak future over this year’s championship.
Last year, BMS was forced to cancel the championship due to restrictions on sports activities as for the second consecutive year, the country will not host the Toyota 1000 Desert Race.
The event has since been hosted in Upington, South Africa, a move the organisers said was temporary.
Following a series of postponements to the Botswana Darts Association’s (BODA) season opener, the body has been forced to postpone once again.
The event was scheduled for Maun on January 30, but due to lack of funds, it was postponed to February 27.
The cash-strapped federation has said the sponsor pulled out following the latest restrictions on sports. “The suspension has again hit us hard mainly because there was a tournament scheduled for Maun. The tournament was first planned for January 30, then postponed due to curfew then was taken to February 27, and again postponed.
We thought since darts is not a contact sport we would be allowed to play. Now we have lost a potential sponsor for the event,” he said.
Football was also expected to kick off this weekend with the Orange FA Cup quarterfinals.
The matches were to be a curtain-raiser for the 2020-2021 league championship. League football was to make a return since March 2020, as the game remains one of the most hit by the outbreak of the virus.
Meanwhile, the Botswana Table Tennis Association’s (BTTA) junior tournament started last Saturday but has been disturbed as the association was forced to postpone the Junior Championship that was scheduled for March 27 in Mochudi.