PASSOBO admits to failing Mabote
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday September 23, 2016 15:55
PASSOBO secretary general, Titus Kebuileng admitted the blunder in a press conference this week. He said they could have done better to prepare the athlete for the competition. He said they bought Mabote a wrong set of shoes because they did not know the correct spikes. Kebuileng blamed the coach, Raj Rathedi for not providing them with the correct type of spikes that were needed.
Kebuileng said they tried their best considering the challenges they faced.
Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said the public should realise that Paralympics games and Olympic Games are different from each other. He said most people have been complaining that Mabote was not given enough support, even looking at the number of officials that travelled with him.
“You can only travel when you have been accredited and in this instance we were not accredited. You must also be aware that the number of officials is determined by the number of athletes that are travelling.
In this instance, the team size calculator allowed only two officials,” he said.
Serufho said they had advised PASSOBO to organise training camps for Mabote and he could have followed the same programme that was used by the Olympics team. He said the association failed to do that. He said BNOC has never turned down a request for camp for Mabote.
Rathedi said the fact remained that nothing was done for the athlete.
“I do not want to point fingers at anybody but I have submitted monthly technical reports to the Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) for the time I have been coaching Mabote,” he said. He said communication was difficult between him and the two bodies due to the absence of a team manager. He said in some instances he did not know who to contact, either PASSOBO or BNOC.
Rathedi said he was disappointed by the way Serufho reacted towards the feedback he (Rathedi) was giving. He revealed that at one point, he had to request his friend who is a physiotherapist to assist Mabote.
“I always respected you as the chief executive officer but today your reaction is shocking to me,” he said.
Rathedi stressed that he was not a PASSOBO employee but simply a volunteer and if they are not interested in his services they should let him go. Despite that, he said he will not stop working with Mabote.