BODA hopes to reap more medals in Maseru

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Monday August 30, 2010 00:00

In 2008 Botswana clinched third position with 24 medals - six gold, five silver and 13 bronze medals. Botswana will host the 2011 Zone VI youth championship tournament.

At this year's tournament, which kicks off today, Botswana will be represented by 20 athletes, seven from the men's senior team, five from the women's senior team, four from the youth team, and four from the veterans' team.

The annual competition is rotated annually amongst countries and it is interchanged between the senior team competition and the youth Under-18 and Under-25 competition. Last year a youth team that was sent to Zambia also emerged third. Four youth have however been recruited from the Under-25 side to represent the senior team as per the rules of the Zone VI Darts Federation.

Speaking to Monitor Sport, BODA spokesperson Peter Sekgwama said he feels they have sent a better team this year to compete in the tournament, which will end on September 5. He said the team consists mostly of new players who have shown much promise. 'The team has retained all the veteran players, two men and two women from the senior team, whilst the rest are fresh players,' he said.

Sekgwama however said the team might be disadvantaged by the fact that they have not had enough training time as a unit. He said they have only been in camp for five days and because of logistical problems they have only been able to utilise three of those days. He said that even if they had used all the five days to the fullest, they still wouldn't have been in the best shape.  'It would have been better if the team went into camp a month before competitions in order for them to get used to each other, and form partnerships according to their strengths,' he said.

Sekgwama however said he hopes for the best and is confident the team will do Botswana proud.

Meanwhile, the 20-member team that left Botswana for Lesotho on Saturday participated in an open mixed doubles competition. Players from different countries are allowed to team up and if they perform well, each player earns points for their country ahead of the competition.

Botswana was the first country to host the tournament in 1989 and their performance has been improving ever since, with their best performance for both the senior and national teams being the third positions they attained in the past two successive years.