Botswana eyes 2024 Commonwealth karate tourney
The Commonwealth Karate Federation (CKF) has given Botswana the greenlight to host the 2024 Karate Championship, following a virtual meeting of the global body’s executive committee last week Saturday.
The committee discussed amongst others, the hosting of the competition, where the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) got the nod to host the tournament.
BOKA would now have to convince the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) to support the initiative.
The Commonwealth Karate Championship attracts 54 countries, with over 1,000 karatekas taking part.
BOKA president, Tshepho Bathai said the competition would be a boost not only for BOKA but the country.
“The expected total hosting budget is around P5 million with a preparation budget of P3 million. We would then request P8 million from the government,” he told Mmegi Sport.
Bathai said the competition would result in a surge of visitors and the media. He said that would provide an increase in spending and inject money into the local economy.
“The economy injection would be short term and make little overall impact on the wider economy. But during that period we expect an estimated P30 million to be spent,” he added.
Bathai said usually BOKA sends less than 10 athletes to the CKF Championship, but hosts usually field a larger contingent.
He said it would also be an opportunity for BOKA to train the maximum number of referees and coaches. He said it would be part of the hosting legacy to have more qualified coaches and referees.
“We currently have only one world qualified (WKF) referee and no coach. This would provide us with an opportunity to train 30 coaches and 30 referees for official WKF courses,” said Bathai, who is also a CKF third vice president. He said since it would be a world-class event, officials who take part are supposed to be WKF accredited. Bathai said that would mean means Botswana would ensure that its officials do qualify before the event.
“We are attracting attention from the international community. For our athletes to compete with the best countries like Britain, Canada and Japan, we should have the best coaches. BOKA has identified two coaches (a man and a woman) to train for a year in Egypt, Spain, Iran and Turkey,” he said.
Bathai said BOKA has developed a four-year programme for the development of athletes in readiness for the Commonwealth competition.
“BOKA should purchase tournament and training equipment for the team such as video review technology is a must have during this event. The technology could be used before and after the event,” Bathai said.