Gaborone bag Botswana Games title
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday December 19, 2017 15:35
The games ended on Saturday and the host district dislodged Francistown, who had won the 2015 edition.
Gaborone finished with 31 gold medals, 19 silver and 16 bronze. Central District was second with 49 medals (16 gold, 13 silver and 20 bronze).
Former champions, Francistown finished in the third spot with 46 medals; bagging 14 gold, 13 silver and 19 bronze. Sowa, Jwaneng and Gantsi finished with just four medals each. Kgalagadi had a poor run, winning only two bronze medals in athletics and boxing.
Gaborone games team manager, Gaontebale Malete was over the moon after the performance of his team. He told Mmegi Sport that the athletes outdid themselves despite the challenges they faced in the run up to the games. Gaborone were dominant is swimming, scooping 22 gold medals while other golden moments came from tennis (2), basketball (1), boxing (1), karate (4) and one in football. The district got silver medals in athletics (1), badminton (2), karate (3), netball (1), swimming (8) and tennis (4). Codes that won bronze for Gaborone are athletics (2), boxing (2), badminton (1), karate (3) and swimming (8).
“Our task now is to come up with a system to monitor our athletes. There should be a structure that should make sure that there is continuity. Some of these athletes were in the team in the 2015 edition of these games,” Malete said.
He said they want to make sure that the athletes are kept active and where possible join professional teams. Reabetswe Jaba of Kweneng whose district finished in position five with 40 medals, said they performed below expectation despite maintaining the same position from 2015.
He said they were outstanding in other codes such as karate and netball. Kweneng scooped five gold medals in karate and one in netball. Jaba backed the holding of the games in December, saying it is the only suitable period.
He said if they are changed to any other month like August, the games would clash with school curricular activities.
There were concerns that the games should be held much earlier than December, as athletes would be rusty, with competitive sport finishing around September in schools.
Other results
North West: 32 (13 gold, 12 silver and 7 bronze)
Southern: 23 (7 gold,7 silver and 9 bronze)
South East: 22 (4 gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze)
Lobatse: 16 (2 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze)
Selebi-Phikwe: 14 (2 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze)
Chobe: 12 (6 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze)
Kgatleng: 10 (10 bronze)
North East: 6 (1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze)