16 Jun 2022

An athletics team that won seven medals at the recent 22nd Africa Senior Championships in Mauritius has recieved  accolades from Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho.

Welcoming the team in Gaborone on Tuesday, Serufho commended athletes for representing the country with pride and resilience.

He said winning two medals in the field events was a sign of great things to come.

The two field events medals were courtesy of Tlhalosang Tshireletso; gold in high jump and silver in triple jump.

“Quite often when we talk about athletics in Botswana, we focus on 400m and 800m. For Tshireletso to have achieved such feat is a welcome development that has to be celebrated by all. And I am happy again that Botswana also made history in Mauritius by winning its first 200m gold medal ever, through Letsile Tebogo,” Serufho added.

That, he said, was indication that Botswana could do well in other events, not just 400m and 800m.

“I will not claim to know how Botswana develops competence to become so good in the two events. It also turns out that some of our finest coaches we have happen to come from those disciplines,” he said.

Serufho indicated that field events athletes did not have experienced coaches  for the longest time compared to track events that boasted of coaches such as Justice Dipeba and Dose Mosimanyane.

However, he acknowledged that the likes of Kabelo Kgosiemang and Larona Koosimile had been trying to assist in the field events.Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) president, Phaphane Botlhale, was also happy with the team’s performance given that they had set a target of eight medals  and got seven.

“For our National Anthem to be sung four times in a foreign country is not a joke. I want to thank athletes as well as the management and medical team. You did Botswana proud,” Botlhale said.

He expressed hope that field events athletes would continue to perform better.

“I am confident that in the next edition, the athletes are going to do more. We will be heading for major championships in Oregon, Birmingham and Cali. We will go there with our heads up because we have stars and champions of Africa,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BAA president thanked Debswana Diamond Company whom he said had made it possible for the association to assemble a team of 33 athletes and eight officials, a team which was put together during the national championships that were held in Francistown recently. ENDS