Sibanda sets eyes on World Junior Champs
Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday June 21, 2016 14:15
The youngster, who walked away with the sportsperson of the year award at the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) awards held over the weekend, said the award has given him a confidence boost and he is eager to back it up with a good performance at the upcoming event.
“Since 2014 I have not won a gold medal so this is my last year competing for the juniors.
I am going to give it my all. I feel I have better chances of getting a medal at the junior championships than the Olympics,” he said.
“I am not in anyway limiting myself, the junior championships will be a stepping stone towards the Olympics. Even at Rio I will give it my best, you never know what to expect. All it takes is for you to believe in yourself,” he said.
Sibanda’s coach, Mogomotsi Otsetswe echoed his words stating that they do not want to exert too much pressure on the athletes. “These guys are still juniors, so my focus is for them to compete and do well in the junior competitions. We do not want to put pressure on them at this level,” he said.
Otsetswe further said he expects Sibanda to keep a cool head after walking away with the most prestigious award on the night and focus on his training.
“I have been telling all my athletes that whenever they win these kind of awards they should not let that go to their heads. I’m happy that with Karabo we have a good relationship with his parents.
They monitor him when he is not in camp. We have tamed him and I have no doubt he will not be distracted,” said Otsetswe who walked away with the BNSC coach of the year on the night.
The African Youth Games (AYG) gold medallist has been suffering from a first degree torn hamstring but his coach revealed that he would be ready for the championships.
“There is nothing to worry about, he has shown progress and he will be fully recover on time for the competition,” Otsetswe said.