Botswana collected eleven gold medals, four silver and six bronze to be crowned the Region 5 Games champions. The team arrived back in Gaborone yesterday.
Botswana Darts Association (BoDA) public relations officer, Thato Maphorisa told Sport Monitor that the team has proven that they are a force to reckon with in the region. He said being the Region 5 champions is an indication of hard work and perseverance. “We had vigorous team selections that were held in Gaborone and Orapa. We picked the best darts players in the country.
The results show that our selectors were spot on and we are ready to conquer the continent if not the world. We have capable men and women who can even challenge for the world championships. Darts is growing and we are positioning ourselves as one the codes that this country can be proud of,” he said. Maphorisa also said Letlhogela Mosepele and Mothusi Moakofi qualified for the Region 5 classic team after taking position one and two respectively in the Masters Challenge. He said the darts team is blessed to have such talented players who also boost of experience.
He said the team can now target bigger things from here. He said competition is tough in the local darts league and being able to be in the team takes hard work and to continue being in the team takes courage and focus.
Maphorisa said each year stakes of being selected in the national team gets high because they only want the best. Meanwhile, Maphorisa said Region 5 Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held before the games.
The region retained Meynard Moyo as president (Zimbabwe) and vice president Ralph Ludgwig (Namibia), Stephen Mwarindira from Zimbabwe is the new secretary-general, Cecil Mbofana is the new treasurer while Charles Katola from Malawi also retained his position as tournament director chairperson. Moakofi from Botswana is the new tournament director for youth.
The gold medals were scooped from the open doubles category by Orateng Kamanga and Hilton Klein, open singles (Hilton Klein), closed youth doubles (Lame Poloka and Alan Pansiri), youth girls (Katlego Robert), veteran women (Florah Chikwai), closed youth singles (Marius Poloka, closed doubles men (Kamanga and Klein), Masters (Letlhogela Mosepele), closed doubles veterans (Kelebonye Setlhalefi and Georginah Motlhagodi.)
The silver medals were won in closed singles youth (Poloka), closed singles veterans (Setlhalefi) and Masters by Moakofi.
The bronze medals were bagged by Wame Gomang (open singles), Moakofi (closed singles), Mosepele and Moakofi (closed doubles men), Kgara Madandume and Bafedile Dube (closed women) and Dube won another bronze medal in closed singles. The team won 21 medals with an overall of youth getting a gold, senior men walking away with a silver and bronze for the senior women.
