The Botswana national Karate team went into camp on Friday in preparation for the Commonwealth Karate Championships, which are due later this month.
The two-day championships will be held in Sidney, Australia, on the 30th and 31st of this month.
According to Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) Public Relations Officer, Jerry Ditlhong, a team of sixteen 16 athletes, comprising of nine men and seven ladies has been identified to train for the championships.
The team is expected to leave for Australia on the 27th of this month and is expected back home on the 4th of August.
“This team is made up of athletes who performed well at the past Zone 6 championships and who have been preparing for these championships since then,” Ditlhong said in an interview.
The BOKA spokesperson says unlike in the past when preparations were always difficult, things are now easier as the association now has its own facilities, something which gives the team ample time to train and prepare. “We are very optimistic that we can get medals from these championships. We know that this will not be easy considering that this championship attracts Karate powerhouses from America, Europe and Asia but we believe it is still possible to win medals,” Ditlhong said.
The BOKA spokesperson further said the Commonwealth games will help solidify the team’s preparations for the upcoming All Africa Games (AAG) which are expected to start at the beginning of September in Mozambique. Meanwhile, senior national team coach, Sensei Mpho Bakwadi, says preparations for the upcoming major championships have been going very well. He says the team has been training together at least three times a week prior to its resumption of camp on Friday, something which he attributes to BOKA having its own facilities where the team can train without disturbance.
Going into the Commonwealth championships, Sensei Bakwadi says they intend to send a bigger contingent than the one they will be sending to the AAG so as to give them guidelines as to who should make the AAG team. “We are allowed to select at least two athletes per category for the Commonwealth Games unlike one per category for the All Africa Games, something which will help us properly assess who should be in the final AAG team,” Sensei Bakwadi said.
He added that the championships will also help them identify the team’s weaknesses ahead of the Africa games.
The national Karate team mentor, however, says while they intend to use the Commonwealth championships to enhance their preparations for the Africa games, they are still very committed to performing well at the Commonwealth games. As such, he says they are targeting to bring at least six or more medals from the Commonwealth championships, something which he believes though very ambitious can be achieved.
“We have been to the Commonwealth games before and have performed well in the games. We can still do it,” Bakwadi added.
Meanwhile, Sensei Bakwadi has appealed to stakeholders as well as the public to support the team as it intends to hoist high the country’s flag on the world stage. He says the nation should extend the support it affords to other sporting codes like football to other sporting codes so as to help the country achieve great things on the international arena.
