15 May 2024

Over 800 athletes are expected to compete at the Debswana BAA National Championships to be held at the National Stadium from Friday until Sunday.

 Athletes expected to compete with the locals are from countries such as South Africa and Namibia, which had confirmed their participation. 

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president, Oabona Theetso said in an interview that they had senior, junior and youth categories.

In the senior category, he said they were expecting top 24 athletes, per event and category.

As for the junior and youth categories, he said top 16 athletes would be fielded in different events.

He further said they would use the national championships as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Africa Senior Championships and the World Junior Athletics Championships.  

On the issue of timing, which had been a hot topic in the past meets as some athletes and administrators had questioned if times registered were authentic or not, Theetso said the issue had been addressed.

He said new faces would be available at the meet to ensure that timing was seamless and coaches and athletes got their results on time. 

 

Also, he said entries would be made public before Friday. ENDS