Over 2,000 athletes converge in Francistown

Koketso Kgoboge | Friday April 7, 2017 18:03

About 1,300 pupils from local primary schools and 1,100 students from secondary schools are expected here for a combined Botswana Integrated Sport Association (BISA) and Botswana Primary Schools Sport Association (BOPPSA) athletics competitions.

The regional and zonal athletics competitions will also be used for the selection of teams that will represent the country at the 2017 Confederation of Schools Sports Association of Southern Africa (COSASA) athletics games that will be held in Harare, Zimbabwe in May.

A team of the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17s that will be selected at the competition will go into a two-week camp in Orapa scheduled to begin on April 18.

BOPPSA spokesperson, Lawrence Moseki said preparations for the competition are at the final stages.

He said with the teams, they are expecting 121 officials, 50 personnel from the Sport Voluntary Movement (SVM), medic from fire department and Department of Health Management Team (DHMT) and security from the local police.

His counterpart at BISA, Letsweletse Jonas said BISA and BOPPSA merged in athletics to improve competition as well as share ideas as both bodies have a common mandate as the developers of the athletes.

He also said the merger was influenced by the decision of COSASA, after the regional body introduced the Under-15 as a way of closing a vacuum between the Under-13 and Under-17.

“It is also the dream of our parent sponsor the ministry of Basic Education to have a sole sporting body for both the primary schools and secondary schools in the future,” he said.

“Last year we combined in preparations for the COSASA finals and we did well.

The combination will also make it easier for transition of the athletes from primary to secondary schools. We are basically piloting to see if it will continue working for us and then after a review we will map a way forward.”

The games resume on April 9 to 11 and the official opening is on April 10.