BNSC awards postponed again
Kabelo Boranabi | Wednesday September 6, 2017 14:55
The ‘Night of the stars’ was moved to September to accommodate the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup that was held in Gaborone in July and the London IAAF World Championships that took place a month later.
Speaking at the Gaborone City Mayor’s Marathon press briefing yesterday, BNSC chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said the awards have been moved to October 7 to make space for the eventful day.
“We (BNSC) have since moved the BNSC awards to October 7 since the date (initially) set, is crowded with events. I have said in the past, sports tourism can boost our economy and this marathon is a perfect opportunity and we could not let the opportunity go, hence why we moved the awards,” he said. Speaking to Mmegi Sport after the press briefing, Reikeletseng was quick to refute that the postponement is caused by lack of readiness from the BNSC, with lack of funds cited as the main reason.
However, Reikeletseng said the Commission had to ‘sort out logistics with the stakeholders’. “It is mainly because of the logistics on the stakeholders’ part. We want all our stakeholders to be there on the night. We had to make sure that the awards do not affect our stakeholders’ schedule,” he said.
Meanwhile, the nominees for the different categories for the award were announced last week. The nominees raised eyebrows as track sensations; Karabo Sibanda and Lydia Jele were snubbed for the sportsman of the year and the sportswoman of the year accolades, respectively. Despite having a horrendous season that was coupled by injuries and lack of form, Nijel Amos was picked ahead of Sibanda while Christine Botlogetswe got the nod over Jele.
The event has already had an embarrassing gaffe as sportsman of the year nominee, karateka, Ofentse Bakwadi’s achievements in the last year were mixed up but the mistake has since been rectified.