10 May 2022

Preparations for Debswana Athletics National Championships are said to be going well.

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA), in partnership with Debswana, will host the championships in Francistown from May 13 to 15.

BAA vice president, Oabona Theetso, said in an interview that the championships were one of their biggest events in the calendar.

His said this year’s edition was different given that the first day would be junior championships, while the rest of the days were reserved for seniors.

“We are deliberately doing this to give the juniors an opportunity to compete alone in their category because in the past they were competing with the seniors,” he said.

Furthermore, he said it would also help the junior athletes given that since 2020, there was no school sport where junior athletes could be compete.

“Remember, last year we did very well during the Region 5 Games in Lesotho. These are the very same athletes we are targeting  at the Debswana Athletics National Championships,” he said.

The event, he said, was also a platform to prepare for majo events, which included the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games, Africa Senior Championships, World Athletics

Under 20 Championships, World Athletics Senior Championships, Commonwealth Games and 2024 Olympic Games.

Theetso said they had chosen Francistown because it was a fast track and warmer than in Gaborone, adding that alone would help athletes to record better time, which would enable them to qualify for some major events.

In other countries, athletes are expected to compete in their national championships, all those who fail can be left out in the national team selection.

In that regard, Theetso said, ‘BAA does not have a governing tool in place that says if you do not compete at the nationals you will not be part of the national team but it is an important thing for us to do.”

He, however, said BAA encouraged all athletes to honour the nationals as that would give Batswana an opportunity to watch them before they could compete outside the country. ENDS