Maitewa's passing sums up awful year for minority sports
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday December 25, 2020 07:49
Boxing: At the beginning of the year boxing started by having a team that competed for slots in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The qualifiers took place in Senegal, which saw only Keamogetse Kenosi booking a place for herself at the summer games. Tragedy then struck the boxing fraternity when the talented Tefo Maitewa succumbed to a brain tumour. His death left the sporting fraternity in a sombre mood, considering the bright future that was ahead of the talented youngster, now lost. On a positive note, Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) had a good run and dominated Botswana Sport Awards, with two wins out of six nominations. The Zone IV and Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) championships were also called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All their activities were halted due to the novel virus. It is now difficult for boxing to return to action due to high costs associated with adherence to the COVID-19 protocols. They had submitted a budget of P1.3 million to the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC).
Karate: It was a challenging year for Botswana Karate Association (BOKA), Commonwealth Karate Federation (CKF) and World Karate Federation (WKF). All events were postponed from March until September. Since September the code had to adapt to the new normal of living with COVID-19. Despite the challenges they faced, BOKA took advantage of the situation to decentralise most of their programmes. They have now spread their wings to Maun and Francistown. BOKA has resourced the areas, held courses and training seminars. They have donated equipment such as tournament mats. They plan to host the Maun Open and the Francistown Open next year.
ATHLETICS: Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) started the year trying to see to it that more athletes qualify for the Olympics. As it stands, only five athletes, Nijel Amos, Amantle Montsho, Galefele Moroko, Christine Botlogetswe, have qualified. Some of the athletes have given up after events were cancelled at the 11th hour. Athletics action only returned recently with Interzonal competitions in the north and south. Tragedy struck BAA camp where the national team was preparing for qualifiers after two athletes, Baboloki Thebe and Onkabetse Nkobolo, were involved in a car accident. Thebe and Nkobolo broke camp rules and went out. The year comes to an end while a commission that was set up to investigate the incident is yet to release its findings.
Special Olympics: The plan for Special Olympics was to conduct athlete leadership training where the emphasis is on training athletes for leadership and responsible positions like being members of executive committees in all regions, being coaches and assistant coaches. The code wanted to introduce tennis and basketball codes to give athletes wider choice and not restrict them to athletics, football and volleyball. “Because our athletes are mostly all school-based, we were restricted by COVID-19 regulations in the country not to train, especially that people with disabilities at schools were last to be allowed to return to school and even then, not all of them,” Ross Tebele said. Special Olympics was not able to hold its AGM due to zonal restrictions and it has been scheduled for next year. The international games are in 2022 and 2023 and the Special Olympics board has started a financial campaign.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING: History was made when Onkarabile 'Scara' Mothibedi became the first ever professional boxer from Botswana to win the World Boxing Federation (WBF) International Super Bantamweight title. Mothibedi won the belt after a hectic 12 rounds bout against Tshepang 'Gearbox' Babui.
Chess: Before COVID-19 struck, Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) looked set to be on its way to become dominant across the region as a whole. The code has been doing well in its development programmes, which saw new players coming up in every tournament. Chess wanted to make more progress in the continent over the board not online. All plans were doomed by COVID-19. Despite other codes struggling to host events, it was much better with chess as they managed to host all major tournaments.
Basketball: After the return to action by sport, they managed to host 3-on-3 tournaments in Francistown, Gaborone, Palapye and Maun. They also did first aid training for team managers, coaches and players. Cancelled events: Senior men's and women's league, the Under 18 Young Lions and regional invitational 3-on-3 tournament, which was to include Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Men's and Boys' GBV tournament, Malebogo Max wheelchair basketball tournament, invitational women’s 5-on-5 tournament, 3-on-3 Under 16 tournaments in Shakawe and Serowe, Re Ba Bona Ha Jamborees and 3-on-3 promoters workshop.
Tennis: The code had planned to have six international tennis tournaments and they had to be scrapped off due to the pandemic. They were also to host five coaches’ conference and courses. Tennis hosted 10 local tournaments in Gaborone, Francistown, Selebi-Phikwe and Serowe, one wheelchair tennis training camp and an officiating course for local officials. They also hosted two high performance-training camps in Gaborone and Francistown in August as well as grassroots camps in Maun, Masunga, Jwaneng, Molepolole as part of increasing tennis participation around the country. Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) AGM was cancelled and moved to next year.
Table Tennis: Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) had a massive plan to take the sport across the country. The plan was to host tournaments in Francistown, Palapye, Gantsi, Kanye and Maun. The plan was disrupted by COVID-19. However, after lockdown, BTTA continued to host tournaments, which were restricted to Gaborone due to limited interzonal movement. Phoenix Assurance Group Botswana signed a deal with BTTA to sponsor every tournament in the 2020-2021 calendar year with P96,000. After lockdown, Phoenix invested P50,000 for the Independence grand final of which it was split into P25,000 for both men and women. The winners for 2020 are Boago Malobela of Smash Maniacs and Tshepiso Rebatenne of Nhabe. The association also maintained its relationship with Stag International for the national team kit and equipment.
Rugby: It was a quiet year for Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) in the field of play. The Union, which ushered in new leadership led by Sean Irish, had its league disrupted by the pandemic. Players only had a chance to flex their muscle during round one, which was played in April. However, BRU managed to host its AGM, level one coaching course at Hogs and Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN), level two coaching course 15s and sevens, special general meeting, World Rugby strength and conditioning-coaching children.
Volleyball: It was yet again a dull year for the code, which has been struggling to secure sponsorship for the league. The outbreak of COVID-19 added more misery to their struggles. It remains to be seen what 2021 would bring as new leadership is expected to take over. There are also some volleyball activities lined up for next year.
Netball: They have nothing to write home about. Botswana Netball Association (BONA) president Malebo Raditladi rolled out her plan to bring back glory days to netball. The plan included: BONA compliance status including affiliates. It was established that for the past six years, BONA and its affiliates had not been complying with the Registrar of Societies with some affiliates deregistered. BONA leadership wanted to sort out its financials but they were struggling because of the outstanding 2017 audited report that was supposed to give them brought forward to be able to put their books in order. The association is still to produce the 2017 NWYC LOC report. Other events that netball was to attend: Netball World Youth Cup (NWYC) Africa qualifiers, Africa Cup, Namibia Pent series, Singapore Six Nations and three players qualified to play in Australia: Fatima Dino, Kgomotso Matibini and Tumisang Bagidi.
Softball: Thabo Thamane and his executive committee had a lot to deal with after surviving a motion of no confidence. The BoFINET softball league is proposed to start in January after the 2019-2020 season was nullified due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The executive committee is yet to convince clubs about the restructuring of the league and that was expected to have happened during an AGM that was postponed due to network connectivity problems. Softball was able to receive the green light for Manase construction to refurbish of the National Diamond to the tune of P409, 487.18. The project includes the installation of wash hand basins, erection of dugouts and refurbishment of the existing house to an isolation room. Other fields that have been refurbished to comply with COVID-19 regulations include Jwaneng, Selebi-Phikwe and Orapa.