Karate is one of the codes that are non-Olympic qualifiers at the Games including judo, hockey, beach volleyball, volleyball, boxing, basketball (3x3), chess, cricket, football, rugby, swimming, taekwondo, and weightlifting.
BOKA has received an invitation to participate in the Games from the continental competition's Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairperson, Kwaku Ofosu-Asare.
Initially, BOKA was excluded from the codes that were preparing for the Games because karate is not part of the 2024 Olympics.
BOKA president, Mpho Bakwadi said the invitation letter from the African Games LOC requests the (BOKA) association to submit the official interest to the BNSC. “We have submitted our request for participation to BNSC, and we are still waiting for confirmation. The BNSC had requested us to submit a long list for the African Games, which we did, so just like other National Sport Associations (NSA), we are still waiting for the BNSC to respond,” he said. Bakwadi said at the moment, athletics is the only code that has received confirmation to participate in the Games. “Our national team, which was selected last year, is ready because the African Games were to be held last year,” he said.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders have expressed frustration over the selection of the team that could travel to Ghana. According to information reaching MmegiSport, some karatekas have been requested to submit their dates of birth to be considered for the African Games. Meanwhile, the Botswana Taekwondo Federation (BTF) will be competing in three categories at the African Games, individual sparring, poomsae, and teams championship. BTF secretary-general Tumelo Mapila said they are waiting for the BNSC meeting to discuss the team’s allocation details. Taekwondo is also preparing to compete at the African qualification tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
The competition is scheduled for February 10-11. “We intend to send a team of Karabo Kula, Wardell and Ernest Samotshozo. Our budget for the tournament stands at P160,000 and right now we are waiting for confirmation of funds and booking the team to travel. The funding would be taken care of by (the Botswana National Olympic Committee) BNOC if our request is approved,” he said. Botswana currently has three points in the Taekwondo Olympic rankings. The BNSC is expected to release the list of NSAs that will be competing at the African Games next week.
