Athletics dominate Sports Awards
Once more Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) cemented their status as one of the best performing sporting code locally by winning five most significant awards at the 40th Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) award ceremony over the weekend.
The ceremony which was held in Gaborone saw BAA walking away with sportsman, Sports Woman, national team, coach and sportsperson of the year awards, all in one night. From all the categories they were nominated for, athletics only lost the junior male sportsperson of the year accolade.
Athletes and officials were rewarded for their great performances during the 2019 year at the national, zonal, continental and global competitions. 400M male runner, Leungo Scotch was named the sportsperson and sportsman of the year after rising to the occasion last year to win two gold medals at Africa Games in the 400m and 4x400m relay team events. As if that was not enough, Scotch went on to qualify for World Athletics Championships in Doha where he finished in the 400m semi-finals.
Another 400m ace, Galefele Moroko walked away with the Sports Woman of the year award following her dazzling performance last year. Moroko rose to stardom last year following the best form of her athletics career, clinching gold at Africa Games in the 400m individual race as well as silver medal with the ladies 4x400m relay team. To put the icing on the cake, she was the first Tokyo 2020 400m qualifier from Botswana and went on to compete at World Athletics Championships where she finished on the semi-final stage.
The 4x400m men’s relay team of Scotch, Ditiro Nzamani, Leaname Maotoanong, Zibani Ngozi, Onkabetse Nkobolo and Boitumelo Masilo went on to win the national team of the year award, which they have dominated for the past four years, either as victors or nominees. In the absence of the likes of Karabo Sibanda, Baboloki Thebe and Isaac Makwala, the relay, consisting of upcoming sprinters, rose to the occasion and continued with their dominance, winning gold the
at 2019 CAA Southern Senior Championships, Africa Games and finishing as semi -finalists at World Championships. As of 2019, the team was ranked 1st in Africa in relay events.
To sum it up, BAA’s youngster coach, Kebonemodisa Mosimanyane capped off a brilliant night by snatching the coach of the year award after leading the team to Africa games where they won 4 gold and 1 silver medals. He went on to lead the team as an assistant coach at the World Championships. During the absence of coaching heavyweights, Mogomotsi Otsetswe and Justice Dipeba at the Africa games, Mosimanyane rose to the occasion and proved his worth.
Speaking to this publication post the award ceremony, BAA Vice president- Administration Oabona Theetso said the victory was long overdue. “We are very pleased with this performance at the award ceremony because this confirms our claim that we are the number one sporting code locally. So we hope that the powers that be will now start to realise that if they can increase our budget, we can do wonders for the country. In fact, we had expected a white wash but we missed out on only one award. Our secret of success is team work, we appraise and critique each other to get the well desired results. But going forward, we want to work harder so that next year we scoop the best sport code award,” said the elated Theetso.
In other awards, Junior Female and male Sportsperson of the year awards went to Refilwe Gabatswarwe and Denzel Seetso from Chess and Tennis respectively. Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) won the national sport association of the year award while Thato Patlakwe won the sports administrator of the year award. Dorothy Okatch of basketball is the umpire of the year recipient.