FIDE purchased the flight tickets for the athletes. BCF secretary, Mokwaledi Tingwane told Mmegi Sport that they are in a dire situation after receiving only P200,000 as an annual grant from the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC).
“We have not touched the grant because of its terms and conditions. However, the grant is too little. The breakdown of that amount is as follows, P60,000 is for competitions, P60,000 for administration, and P80,000 is for development. We needed P68,000 for flight tickets,” he said.
Tingwane explained that they had no choice but to ask FIDE to come to their rescue.
He said FIDE has a travel subsidy, which is meant to assist federations who are struggling financially. He said the funds were deposited into the BCF bank account and the office, in turn, purchased the tickets.
Referring to elite scholar, Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Besa Masaiti, Tingwane said the player is being assisted by BNSC. He said the team has been training online since the beginning of July under the tutelage of International Grandmaster (GM) Vishal Sareen from India. “We had to use the funds that we had in our account to fund the training.
It was not enough hence squeezing the training in a month. Each team, men and women had 10 hours of training. Players are used to online because they have been playing online tournaments so it was easy for them to adjust to the training,” he said.
Tingwane said the last action for the team is tomorrow in Gaborone. He said they expect almost all the national team players to practice during the tournament. He said they plan to have a mini-camp for the team and they have requested accommodation at the Athletes Village.
For her part, Masaiti told Mmegi Sport from her base in Seattle, the United States that her has schedule has been tight. “I am still taking summer classes online even as I head to India.
For the national team, the BCF through FIDE hired a coach to assist prepare both the Open and women's team. We looked at a lot of tactics and calculations given that we are a young team,” she said. Masaiti said she had submitted a request to be trained by GM Alex Yermolinsky as an elite scholar. “We started and we did quite a bit of work but our progress was delayed by payment issues on the BNSC side. Hopefully, we will be on schedule as the issue is being rectified,” she said. When asked if she will be playing on Board 1, Masaiti said that is a possibility because she is the oldest and most experienced in the team.
“I have not been officially told I am [on] Board 1 but I suspect I will be and I am looking forward to making a greater performance than my debut performance in the Georgian 2018 Olympiad,” Masaiti said.
Meanwhile, BCF president, Mooketsi Segaise will be travelling to Chennai to attend the elective FIDE Congress. The incumbent president of Russia, Arkady Dvorkovich is seeking re-election but faces stiff competition from Andrii Baryshpolets of Ukraine. “I have not made up my mind who I will be voting for,” Segaise told Mmegi Sport.
The team: Men: International Master (IM) Providence Oatlhotse, Gomolemo Rongwane, Oratile Kgotlane, Bojosi Sabure, and Keletshabile Monnaatsheko. Women: WFM Masaiti, WFM Naledi Marape, Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Natalie Katlo Banda, Ruth Otisitswe, and WCM Arona Moshoboro.
