The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) caretaker chief executive officer, Tebogo Kesupile told Sport Monitor on Friday that the three codes were dropped due to financial challenges.
She explained that the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) took long to respond to their request for funding. “The BNSC took long to respond to our request. We even wondered if we would send any team to the Games. The response came very late. They finally responded telling us that they will finance our preparations for the games.
The funds were lower than what we had requested but unfortunately I cannot reveal the amount that they gave us. If you have four codes and you get half of the budget of what you requested, the codes do not have the same number of teams, so we had to look at a number of factors to decide who is travelling and who stood a chance to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics,” she said.
Kesupile also said they decided to select the men’s volleyball team because it is ranked number one in Africa. She said receiving funding late made the preparations difficult regarding logistics for travel. Kesupile stated that they initially informed the teams to continue preparing but with knowledge that they might not travel.
Botswana will be represented in the men’s 4x4 beach volleyball at the games which also serves as World Beach Games qualifiers to be held in Bali, Indonesia in August. The team comprises Sekao Jack (captain), George Chiswaniso, Trevor Manduwa, Nkagisang Balosi, Saletlhake Saletlhake and Mosiiwa Baleofi. Coach, Kabelo Marumo told Sport Monitor that the team qualified for the Africa Beach Games due to the brilliance that was displayed by Jack and Chiswaniso during the Senior Nations Championships in Morocco in 2022. He said they qualified for the Africa Beach Games by playing in the semi finals. “We are going to play the 4x4 format.
All along we have been playing 2x2 format and that is the one we have been developing. The duo of Jack and Chiswaniso are experienced, they have been picking our rankings. I introduced Balosi and Saletlhake for the sake of progression. I then added Manduwa and Baleofi. We have six players; we have staggered their age so that there is continuity,” he said.
Marumo said this has been an ongoing project and they have competed in the Zone Six games. He said the Zone VI countries have been dominating in beach volleyball in Africa through Mozambique, South Africa, Angola and Namibia. “Our team has been active during the Zone VI series, accumulating points and reaching semi finals. The points are used to rank countries.
The team of Jack and Chiswaniso led to us being ranked number one in Africa. We are looking forward to a tough competition because uptake of beach volleyball has grown. We need points to qualify for Paris 2024 and play certain games to be properly seeded,” Marumo said.
He said nine countries have booked spaces but the number will increase to 14 due to invitations extended to other countries, which is normal in volleyball. Botswana has also qualified for the World Cup in Mexico. Regarding preparations, Marumo said it is always a challenge due to lack of resources. The team jetted off to Tunisia on Saturday led by chef de mission, Moagi Sharp.
