Chinese offer athletes incentives

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Friday July 11, 2008 00:00

The Chinese ambassador, Ding Xiaowen said he was surprised to learn that Botswana has not won a single medal at the Olympics since it started taking part in the games 22 years ago.

Xiaowen said he was challenged to do something about Botswana's dearth of Olympic medals hence he came up with the pledge to give athletes courage ahead of the games. The Chinese embassy has pledged P50,000 for Botswana gold medallists, P30,000 for silver medallists and P20,000 for bronze medallists.

Additionally athletes who qualify for the finals will be given P10,000. Those who have qualified for the Olympics will get P2,000. The Chinese have donated P100,000 to sponsor coaches and journalists who are going to cover the Olympics. 'We, the Chinese community in Botswana, consider ourselves as locals and a win for you will be a win for all of us. We wish you success at the competition,' Xiaowen said. The embassy pledged 300 footballs as a contribution to the newly launched constituency leagues. The donation was made after an appeal by the minister in charge of sport, Gladys Kokorwe.

'I am truly humbled by this gesture by the Chinese embassy and the Chinese community in this country. Words are not enough to express my heartfelt appreciation for what you have done for our athletes ahead of such a major international sporting event,' Kokorwe said. She added that financing elite sport should not only be the responsibility of government alone as it needs a multi-sectoral approach. She acknowledged that the smallness of Botswana's Beijing bound team is a result of lack of meaningful exposure to tougher international competitions.

Botswana will be represented in athletes and boxing only at the Olympics. Kokorwe appealed to the Chinese government to avail opportunities to Botswana to send athletes to China for intensive training in future to prepare better for international competitions.

The minister encouraged coaches to do everything in their power to drill athletes to do their best in Beijing.