Its a wrap at BAA

Improved world rankings

BOINEELO RANKWAILA

The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) confirmed the closure of a successful season. Speaking exclusively to Gazette sport the public relations officer for BAA Ronald Masalila said the National association has closed down what they call an epic season but will honor race invites such as diamond league, cross countries and other international races.
He reviewed the season by highlighting various events such as Nationals where they managed to qualify three athletes for the just ended Rio Olympic games. The biggest achieve of the season was when the relay team had set new national record and ranked within top 5 in the world. “We had a good season and I promise more is yet to come as we are now preparing for next season” Masalila added.
We have major competitions next year such as world relay championships in Bahamas and world championships and London”. He also stressed out that they are quite aware that some athletes have been invited for the AUSC- Region 5 competitions which are scheduled to be held December 2016 at Angola  but things are not certain if Karabo will grace the event due to anxiety while Baboloki is automatically off due to his injury. When reached for comment about the general perspective of the season, local coach Mogomotsi Otsetswe  exclusively told this publication that generally the season was a huge success.
He said BAA deserves a pat in the shoulder after they sent a quite a number of representatives at the just ended Olympic Games and fact that most athletes qualified with a high standard. He also mentioned that as a coach he is  very much excited with the current world U20 rankings in 400m where his duo Baboloki Thebe and Karabo sibanda are ranked number one and two respectively.
The duo delivered beyond expectation as the participated in both Junior and senior championships of which they have brought medals in both championships. He went on saying that this season was a huge learning curve in both athletes and the technical staff  “we prepared well in  time, even though athletes were  hit by several injuries.
I would like to stress out a point that injuries that occurred during the season particularly at the Olympic games were not caused by improper training”. Glody Dube the vice president for BAA confirmed that the season was a roller-coaster with mixed emotions but all stakeholders had one common goal at the end, to strive for success.
Gazette sport contacted Karabo Sibanda for comment and he briefly said that he had the best season so far and that he is currently preparing for his next race scheduled 9’th to be held at Belgium. In his closing remarks, Otsetswe thanked all stakeholders for tremendous support during the most intense season. He said that they have learnt a lot from this season and in future they will  take all precautions seriously by engaging medical staff well in time.
Most athletes will use this off season as the time to pick up and work hard to strive for success next season. “ its high time we educate the public about athletics to avoid negative comments and and also the athletes being crucified in social media because negativity does not built an athlete rather it brings division among the team” he concluded.