During a media briefing held in Gaborone yesterday, the BNOC attempted to defend its failure to achieve the target. The local Olympics body had set July 1 as the cut-off date for athletes to have qualified for the global sports showpiece. Only five, Amantle Montsho, Pako Seribe, Oteng Oteng, Nigel Amos and Isaac Makwala made the grade.Botswana had initially set a target of 20 athletes and revised it downwards to 12 although it was always apparent that it was a steep challenge.
BNOC chairperson, Negroes Kgosietsile said that should not be viewed as a failure because it is not the number that matters. He asserted that what mattered was that the two medal target was still achievable. He said it was unfortunate that they faced challenges in preparing the team and had that not been the case, they would have achieved their target.Kgosietsile would not say what went wrong but promised that the nation will be given feedback after the evaluation. "Twelve athletes did not qualify but we are content with the five who qualified. We are sure that we will be sending quality not just numbers," BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho added.
