BOTSWANA RIDERS INVADE UGANDA
...Local racers aim for success at Africa championships
Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) will tomorrow (Wednesday) send a team of eight (8) riders to compete at the 2022 FIM AFRICA Motocross of African Nations Championships (MXOAN) slated for Uganda over the weekend.
The eight riders consist of Seth Meyer, Radikolo Linchwe, Tadiwa Tafa, Levi Kruger, Zameer Bodhanya, Euan Harmse,
Kosmas Mamaloukos (team captain) and Andre Kruger. BMS reportedly wanted to send a team of 22 riders but due to their financial limitations they could only send eight.
The MXOAN is one of the few Motorcycle events recognized as a ‘Team’ event, where the points of the official riders are tallied to determine the winner of the championship. Local riders will test their mental and physical limitations over the two days but they have not set targets.
Speaking during a sideline interview on Tuesday, BMS Vice President, Roseline Mamaloukos revealed that preparations to send a team to Uganda was a serious challenge more especially on issues of funding. “It has been a long tough journey with lots of hiccups along the way in terms of funding, sponsorships weren’t forthcoming. That was also because we started sourcing funds late but luckily for us, Botswana National Sports Commission came to our rescue,” she said. “We had 22 riders originally, so we had to cut them down to eight because the funds only allowed us to take a smaller number of riders,” Mamaloukos explained. She said that the criteria used to select the team was mainly informed by the local championship standings and leading riders were selected. The BMS Vice President also emphasized and explained the need for Botswana to have sent a team to represent the country in Uganda as the championships are ranked 1st in Africa.