27 Mar 2022

Multi-sport activities dubbed Lobatse Sports Festival are on cards.

Speaking during a press conference in Lobatse recently, founder and chairperson of the sports hive, Tshepho Bathai, said he came up with the idea not only to promote Lobatse, but also to stimulate interest and competence in sport.

He said the event was also geared to promoting friendship amongst communities as well as develop social qualities such as tolerance, cooperation, sympathy, effectiveness, team spirit, patience and sportsmanship.

Bathai noted that such objectives would be achieved through a charitable trust, which he was working on.

He opined that there would be a hive of sports activities pencilled for July 15-17. He said there would be four Botswana Football Association (BFA) registered teams in the likes of Maletamotse, Lobatse Stars, Bonto FC and OCM FC.

Bathai said they would also have social football that would be part of the activities, adding that this category would have 12 teams.

Lobatse Open Karate would be conducted under the banner of the Botswana Karate association.

He said most Botswana karatekas would take part in the event, noting registration would be done online through sports data.

The other breath-taking category would be peleng marathon of which he said they were organising in partnership with Lefika Athletics club.
There would be 42.2km, 21.1km and 10 km races of which registration would be done online through Pro Time, he said.

Bathai said they would also have a night run or glow run, the first of its kind in Botswana.

This is a 5km fun run that will take place in the evening and at the finishing point there will be massive music festival that will take people up to the next morning. He shared that there were still putting together musicians and DJ’s for this show.
Furthermore, he said Botswana Wrestling Federation had agreed to be part of this event.

They would also have scrabble under the banner of Botswana Scrabble Association.

He encouraged all to register for the scrabble tournament more especially schools because it was good for kids and parents.

He noted that there be Spin City and that they were putting together a show that had never been seen before, dubbed Earthquake.He said netball competition will be putting up a good piece of competition and it will be a social event, and there would be a Cheerleading, a new sport in Botswana.

There will also be snooker competition that would be held under the banner of Botswana Billards Association.

The activities will also comprise traditional sports and other activations will include activities such as Train Run that will sail through Lobatse Heritage and Special sites.

The volunteers’ manager, Kgotlaetsile Moube, said there would need two hundred people to  help during this event and they would be allocated according to codes.

They would have training  for volunteers  as preparation for the event. Logistics manager, Keone Kgorotlhe, said they wanted people to be safe and were negotiating with  Botswana Police Service to assist.

Omphemetse Mmolai, who is programmes manager, said they had more than 10 codes to promote Lobatse as destination of choice, urging young people to come and explore their talents by starting activation by cycling, aerobics, and traditional games. ENDS