COVID paralyses chess school’s plans
FRANCISTOWN: The co-owner of the Francistown School of Chess, Jeremiah Dikgang has said the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has almost paralysed operations at his school, which has centres in Francistown and Orapa. Since its inception in 2019, the school has had several players called for national assignments.
The academy is one of the chess centres of excellence in the country. “We reopened at the beginning of the year. Since then we have seen a serious decline in terms of enrolment of academy players.
The enrolment has declined by almost 50%. We used to enrol above 70 learners per class in different categories, but now we have around 35 learners in our Francistown facility,” Dikgang told
Mmegi Sport.
“I think parents are cautious about sending children to the school owing to the pandemic. Some have budgetary challenges.”
Most of the players at the academy are under the age of 11, according to Dikgang. Dikgang added the academy was closed from March 2020 until January this year. He said the Orapa facility will remain closed due to the low enrolment o f learners. “I also think parents in Orapa are reluctant to enrol their children because of the pandemic. At the moment, we do not know when we will re-open the facility.
Hopefully, things will normalise soon,” he said. Dikgang added it is also difficult to hold online chess lessons for players who cannot attend physical classes, due to financial challenges. “We were supposed to purchase a platform that allows us to conduct online lessons from India.
We, however, failed to do so because of lack of funds. We have since shelved the idea to purchase the platform. Once we have mobilised enough funds that is when we can maybe purchase the platform,” he said.
Despite not operating, the school in partnership with First Capital Bank managed to host a tournament that attracted over 100 participants from different categories. Capital Bank has been sponsoring the tournament since 2019. “The tournament was a success. We, however, did not attract international players because of the travel restrictions imposed in a bid to mitigate against COVID-19. We would have loved to have international participants because they boost the profile and competitiveness of the
tournament,” he said.
Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, Maclean Letshwiti will know if he makes it to the CAF executive committee today, as the continental body holds its elections. The continent’s top football executives have converged in Rabat, Morocco for a watershed congress, which will usher in a new president, Patrice Motsepe; the first from an anglophone country.
Motsepe cantered to ‘victory’ after a deal brokered by FIFA president, Gianni Infantino saw the South African billionaire rivals withdraw from the contest. While the focus will firmly be on Motsepe’s ascendancy to the continent’s most powerful football post, Botswana will retain keen interest as the local mother body’s Letshwiti bids for a position in CAF’s executive committee.
Letshwiti faces competition from fellow COSAFA members; Arthur De Almedia Silva of Angola, Feizel Ismael Sidat of Mozambique and Elvis Raja Chetty of Seychelles. The candidates made representations during a recent COSAFA meeting in Johannesburg, which was attended by the FIFA president. Depending on how he fares, it will neither be a crushing loss nor a defining victory. Letshwiti has put good governance at the forefront of his campaign, a vision echoed by the new president, Motsepe. CAF has 15 executive members who include the president and his two deputies.