The team started the competition on a high note scooping a gold medal in Children Kata individual female through Abale Thabologo and gold medal in the Children kata individual male by Chris Kgosi Junior. The Junior female team kata that comprised Juby Diau, Mitchell Ramotlhala and Jennifer Gaobolae won gold while Cleo Barona clinched a silver medal in the Cadet female Individual kata Under-16.The Senior male team kata made of Bofelo Daniel, Lefa Mfanyana, Chika James won silver. The team finished behind South Africa with 42 medals (12 gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze). Botswana arrived at the tournament all fired up despite being forced to slash the number of athletes due to financial challenges.
The team coach, Peter Molefhe told Sport Monitor that preparations started by an aggressive selection process for both the junior and senior teams, where 54 athletes made the cut but the number was trimmed to 34 athletes. “Our expectations were that each team member should bring home a medal, even though there are some who were making a debut at the regional competition, and stage fright affected them a bit. But I am happy that some managed to win medals. Majority of the team members were Under-21 with only six seniors,” he said. Molefhe said the challenge that they are facing is the low number of participation in children categories, with only two children, Chris Kgosi Junior and Abale Thabologo taking part in the 10-11 years section. “It is a huge gap that should be taken care of but funds remains a challenge. But I feel when we attend regional competitions, where we can just take a bus, we should be having lot of athletes in those categories. The potential is there. Countries like South Africa defeat us because they have large number of athletes,” he said.
