NSAs Brace For New Normal
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 1, 2020 08:30
The NSAs were given the greenlight to host events by the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) last week.
However, football, netball and rugby will still be on hold. The BNSC chief executive officer (CEO), Falcon Sedimo said through a circular that NSAs will be allowed to resume training on condition they complied with the set regulations and cleared with BNSC.
Meanwhile, addressing the media over the weekend, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Kago Ramokate said rugby, football and netball have been left out because they were high-risk due to full contact.
“Sporting activities would be held without spectators even at training. Junior sport programmes can also resume, but with the consent of parents. Temperatures will be recorded and social distancing must be observed,” he said.
Botswana Football Association (BFA) spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane told Sport Monitor that their medical committee is yet to give the National Executive Committee (NEC) direction.
He also said as of now football activities continue to be halted.
Botswana Wrestling Federation (BWF) president, Moagi Sharp said they weare ready to resume activities and they were going to make sure they adhere to social distancing protocols.
“Our challenge is that currently we do not have sanitisers and thermometers which means as a leader I buy them from my own pocket. When we resume, we are not doing contact wrestling. We would focus on push-ups and sit-ups. Rope skipping would be introduced to increase the reaction time of the wrestlers,” he said.
Sharp said at a later stage, that is when they would introduce contact wrestling. He also added that when COVID-19 pandemic started, BWF had a balance from their BNSC grant and the intention is to submit a request if funds are still available.
Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) spokesperson, Tiro Motswasele said they are proposing a national tournament on June 7. He said the challenge is that BNSC has not announced the number of players allowed in a tournament. Despite that, he said they have measures in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“To manage the numbers and time at our tournaments, we are going to play singles only. We would only allow those who are playing inside the venue and after that, the player would go outside and wait for another match,” Motswasele said.
He disclosed that BTTA intended to engage a SHE officer as expected by COVID-19 protocols.