05 Jun 2022

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) is working round the clock to assemble a team that will represent the country at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8.

Briefing the national sports federations at a general assembly on Saturday, BNOC president, Botsang Tshenyego, said the selection exercise was being undertaken with honestry, hope and excitement. He, however, said his organisation faced challenges in ensuring successful implementation of the preparation schedule.

The BNOC, he said, had an ambitious goal of bringing home eight medals, despite the challenges. “The BNOC continues to work in tandem with other key sport stakeholders, including the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture to ensure the holistic achievement of goals set forth.

Both the BNOC and the BNSC continue to remain committed to driving initiatives aimed at overhauling sport for the future,” he said. Tshenyego pointed out that the BNOC also intended to align itself with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure success.

Furthermore, he said over the next four years, emphasis would be placed on improving athletes performance, strategic partnerships, process efficiency and the promotion of Olympism.

“These objectives echo those of the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020+5, which has key themes aimed at building resilience in the face of the financial and economic consequences that have and will continue to result from COVID-19 and the shift in priority setting amongst governments and enterprises, in addition to increasing sustainable development,” he said

Talking about strategic partnerships, he said central theme to the BNOC’s strategic success was the establishment and maintenance of strategic partnerships.

The BNOC president said they had partnered with KGK Diamonds, which would afford athletes’ access to six months training courses in diamond sorting and polishing, with the opportunity to be absorbed following successful completion of the course. He said one of their partner, Sports for Life (S4L), aimed to promote human development and youth empowerment in underprivileged and underserved communities.

Tshenyego said the official launch of the project in Botswana was planned for June 20, with the training running for a fortnight.

“It is anticipated that following the launch and training, the project will be able to progress to the replication phase in regions throughout the country,” he said.

Updating about the Diplomatic Corps Cooperation, he highlighted that having established relations with the Embassy of Japan in Botswana during the run up to the Tokyo Games, the BNOC was able to further relations with the diplomatic corps in the country through engagements with the French Embassy in Botswana.

“With a long-term view of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship which includes cultural exchange, it is anticipated that athletes and the sports fraternity as a whole will benefit greatly from these relations,” he said. ends