The University of Botswana (UB) is well prepared to host the Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BOLESWA) Games, which will be officially opened on the 28th February 2011.
The Manager of Sports and Recreation, Raj Rathedi, revealed in a media briefing held at the UB Swimming Pool recently, that Team UB, which is the defending champions, intends to do even better than in 2010.
UB returned from Swaziland in 2010 with 20 gold medals, 8 silver and 8 bronze medals.
He said that the UB received tremendous support from national sporting federations as they have mostly agreed to give them qualified personnel to officiate during the sporting activities and have also given them facilities to use during the competitions.
“No students will be allowed to officiate during the games,” Rathedi revealed.
At least 3000 students will participate in the games with about 1000 being from UB and 500 of them being the UB athletics team.
Other sporting activities include aerobics, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, cricket, dance sport, squash, tennis, weight lifting, soccer, rugby, pool, karate, softball, volleyball, table tennis, netball, swimming and taekwondo.
The first games will start on the 1st of March 2011 with most of the games being hosted at the UB facilities, except for weight lifting, which will be held at the BNSC gym on the starting day.
Participants will, however, be accommodated at the old student centre and the Botswana College of Agriculture due to shortage of accommodation in the UB campus.
“We do have a shortage in UB because our hostels are full, but thankfully because of our new buildings we can accommodate participants and visitors at the old student centre as well as the BCA,” said Rathedi.
The games will be officially opened by the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Shaw Kgathi on the 28th February 2011, under the theme, “Fight Drug Abuse through Sports and Culture.”
The theme is intended to create further awareness about the dangers of drug abuse within the student communities.
