The team was set to leave for Italy's Busto Arsizio tomorrow. However, the change sees the team forgoing the qualifiers to instead focus on the African Games. BoBA president, Gilbert Khunwane told Mmegi that changes were made due to overlapping schedules. The world qualifiers are scheduled for February 29 to March 12, while the African Games take place from March 8 to 23.
“We had wanted to send two teams, with one team going to the Olympics' first world qualification tournament in Italy while the other team was to compete at the African Games in Ghana. The plan was affected by financial challenges,” he said. Botswana had previously competed at the Africa qualifiers held in Dakar, Senegal, in September.
The team comprised five boxers, including Mohammed Rajab (51kg), George Molwantwa (57kg), Kabo Seitshiro (63.5kg), Keamogetse Kenosi (57kg), and Aratwa Kesemang (66kg). Only Kenosi managed to reach the top eight, while the rest lost at the round of 16 stage. Khunwane said the second world qualifiers are set for May in Thailand, and they hope to use the African Games as preparation for the tournament. “We intend to send six boxers to the African Games where the focus would not be on medals but the performance of the boxers.
The performance will be used to select the team for Thailand. We have sent a request to the BNSC and the BNOC regarding the long list that we have,” he said. Khunwane expressed optimism that funds would not be a challenge in the new financial year for the May qualifiers. He said they are hopeful of achieving success in Thailand as the majority of top-ranked boxers are expected to book themselves spaces during the first-world qualifiers. Rajab is on the Olympic Solidarity scholarship, while Kenosi and Kesemang are on continental support scholarships.
“The team is currently in camp, but we are not ready to face the world because our preparations have not been enough. We have only trained with Zambia. But we hope the new arrangement of sending the team to Ghana would work for us,” Khunwane said.
