Kit mess: Bahamas heroes appear in different colours
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday April 28, 2017 14:47
Mmegi Sport is informed that the contract between Nike and BAA does not extend to the World Relays, recently held in Bahamas. However, the Botswana team that recently competed in the Bahamas wore the Nike kit.
BAA spokesperson, Ipolokeng Ramatshaba told Mmegi Sport yesterday that his committee is still studying the contract since they are still new in the office.
“Initially we knew that Nike is sponsoring World Championships when we took over the office. We wrote to them (Nike) asking them to take a new kit to the team in Bahamas, but they did not respond. We were not aware that the contract does not include World Relays such as the Bahamas event,” he said.
The team appeared chaotic when they turned up for yesterday’s welcome ceremony at the Oasis Motel in Tlokweng, wearing different apparel.
Ramatshaba said they depended on the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) branded kits, but that was insufficient. He said they had informed the athletes to wear anything with Botswana colours.
Ramatshaba said the team was given travel allowances and the incentive fees are being sorted out by the BNSC. He said the men’s team is going to receive P75,000 for bringing silver in the second position in Bahamas. He said the team also won prize money of US$30,000 (P300,000) for winning the silver medal.
For his part, the coach, Mogomotsi Otsetswe said their plan ahead of Bahamas was to qualify for the World Relay Championships. He said they were aware that other countries would come prepared. He said they were also ready to replace any athlete in the event of an injury.
“We executed our plan very well. I had to change my line up in the final because I studied my opponents. I had to come up with a strategy that would give us an upper hand against our opponents. We worked on stage fright of our athletes. The morale was high within the camp and that gave us confidence,” he said.
Otsetswe said in the past, he realised that they were not aggressive when it came to button exchange.
He said this time around, button exchange was their strong point and that is where they killed their opponents.
He said the major challenge they faced was arriving late at the competition. He said they had to travel for 26 hours and had to compete the following day without enough rest.
“In future we need to arrive on time so that we can rest. We hope to discuss that with the authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ramatshaba said they would have liked the team to leave early but there were some delays with visas.
He said the other issue was that IAAF Championships have arrival and departure dates and teams should stick to them to avoid incurring extra costs.