Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) will start to sponsor athletes to overseas universities after a thorough analysis of their prospects to succeed.
Speaking at the association’s annual general meeting on December 16, BNSC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said the decision was reached after realising that most athletes sponsored through the elite scholarship and the Zebra Funding often failed to make the cut at universities they were sent to.
He said they had realised that the standard was often high and that local athletes failed to make the cut, ‘even to lower community teams’.
Serufho said it forced athletes to focus only on the education component of the scholarship and that some even failed to even make it academically.
On other issues, Serufho informed member associations that the commission’s master plan on the development of its land was 70 per cent complete and that the first draft had been received and reviewed by management.
He promised the assembly that they would be engaged in January to give feedback on what the consultant suggested.
He noted that the consultant had suggested apportioning the land for various uses such as office space, residential, medical centres, but with the chunk of the land reserved for sport.
He, however, said it would be impossible for each code to have its own piece of land and that some indoor codes would be housed under one roof, noting that they had more than 40 affiliates.
The commission’s chairperson, Marumo Morule said plans were underway to refurbish the Masunga Sports Complex and that the project would cost P2.5 million. He urged associations to utilise the stadium after completion to avoid turning it into a white elephant.
He said the commission would also spend another P2.5 million to develop volleyball and football pitches at Radisele.
On other issues, Morule reminded associations of their duty to pay annual subscriptions, saying most affiliates had been defaulting.
Meanwhile, the affiliates elected Botswana Softball Association president, Katlholo Mosimanegape and Botswana Fencing Association secretary general, Kelebogile Maplanka as representatives of the National Sport Associations in the BNSC board. The two will, however, be vetted by Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture before assuming the positions.
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