Botswana will compete in football, athletics, para-athletics, volleyball, swimming, tennis, boxing and netball. Chef de mission, Shadrack Kapeko told Mmegi Sport from Lilongwe that everything is in place for the games.
“The team will be coming here in two groups, the first group will be the boys' football team because they should undergo an MRI scan before the competition. The rest of the team will fly in on Monday. We have a smaller team compared to the one that competed in Maseru, where we sent 239 athletes. It was cheaper then because it was next to home and we drove there.
This time around costs have escalated as it is far and we are flying,” he said. Botswana's budget for the games is P14.2 million. Kapeko said it was difficult to select the team because of the absence of school sport.
He said they usually selected the team from the Botswana Games but the last edition was not held due to COVID-19. “The absence of school sport affected our selection because school national championships assisted us to identify talent. However, National Sport Associations (NSA) have other programmes such as out-of-school and Re Ba Bona Ha.
Those programmes were pivotal in team selection,” he said. Kapeko said the only injury that has been reported is that of top-seeded player, Denzel Seetso. The player brought a gold medal from the last edition of the games.
Kapeko said there is no set medal target because they do not want to put pressure on the youngsters. He said the athletes are being developed for upcoming games such as the African Games and Youth Commonwealth Games.
He said pressure would only be expected when the athletes reach senior level. Meanwhile, volleyball team coach, Shirley Moleele said her team is ready for the competition. She said their training camp started on November 8 with out-of-school athletes because most of the players were in the middle of examinations. “We had an opportunity to play practice matches against local clubs such as Police IV and BDF IV.
We also participated in the Liquid Open championship,” she said. Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president, Oaitse Thipe said Seetso and Ekua Youri have pulled out due to injuries but the rest of the team is training. “The team is led by Brighton Keteng, a product of Wellington Sibanda in Selebi-Phikwe. The boys' team has Mark Nawa and Seabo Saleshando.
The girls are Naledi Raguin, Chelsea Changanyuka and Naledi Monnayoo. This is a development team since these players are under 16-years-old,” Thipe said. During the 2021 games, Botswana won 64 medals; 24 gold, 21 silver and 19 bronze.
