BOTESSA FANCIES GOLD FINISH
Botswana Tertiary Student Sports Association (BOTESSA) are currently battling it out in the 20th Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Association (CUCSA) games which began on the 29th August and will come to an end on the 3rd of September 2022 in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Despite financial challenges, BOTESSA have not lowered their expectations on the success of the team as they look to improve on a third place finish and ultimately achieve gold status.
Speaking before the team departed, Communications
and Marketing Manager of the association, Bobo Thobega, said they had wanted to take a larger group of athletes than the one they have at the moment but financial limitations forced them to leave other teams behind.
“It has been a serious challenge, we would have liked to have two camps but unfortunately that was not possible. We had only one camp in which we also used it to make final selections of the team, it would have been ideal if we managed to have another camp. We will have only three days before leaving to Malawi, the issues of finances are key to good preparations and we’ve had serious challenges,” Thobega responded. Team Botswana will be competing on the following codes; Volleyball (ladies), Netball (ladies), Football (men), Basketball (men), Athletics, Chess and Tennis. According to Thobega, ladies football team, men’s volleyball team and ladies basketball team have all been left behind due to financial challenges. She added that despite the challenges they have had to contend with, there is still a strong belief that the team will do well in Malawi. The male football team has already made a significant impact on the games as they stunned the hosts Malawi by a solitary goal through Ofentse Seabe on the opening day of football competition on Monday. The ladies netball team also did not disappoint on Tuesday morning as they also overcame Malawi ,winning 48-33. “As team Botswana, we look back to the CUCSA games of 2018 where we finished on position three behind South Africa and Zimbabwe, so we are looking to do better than last time, we want to improve. As part of our strategic plan as the current committee, we’ve set ourselves some targets, which includes doing well in these regional games and finishing first is our target,” she said. She highlighted that despite a significant drop in terms of numbers of participants, they remain optimistic as other countries have also reportedly sent a low number of participants in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.