BIG BOOST Youth athletics team receives P533 900 from diamond companies
Diamond companies Debswana, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales (DBGSS) along with Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) this morning joined hands in boosting Botswana’s youth athletics team with a sponsorship amounting to P533 900 ahead of their participation at the World Athletics Junior Championships scheduled forLima, Peru from 27th – 31st August 2024.
The sponsorship was announced and handed over at a send off ceremony hosted for the Team Botswana by the three companies in Phakalane this Thursday morning. The sponsorship, largely by Debswana in partnership with the other two companies, comes on the backdrop of a three-year partnership that has been running between Botswana Athletics Association(BAA) and Debswana since 2022 at a value of P9 million.
Speaking at the event, Executive Head of Corporate Affairs at Debswana Rachel Mothibatsela hailed efforts being made towards sport development in the country, saying Debswana would always play their part and in helping narture talent at grassroots.
“At Debswana, along with our partners De Beers and Diamond Trading Company Botswana, we believe that sport development is one pathway to creating sustainable livelihoods. The current crop of our senior national athletics team is testament to this,” she said.
BAA recently praised Debswana for the groundwork they facilitated towards the sterling performance of Team Botswana at the recent Paris Olympic games in France. Much of the P9 million sponsorship in their three-year-partnership was used for activities that helped shape up the talent displayed at the Olympics, where the senior athletics team made off with a Gold medal by Letsile Tebogo and a silver medal by the 4x400m relay team.
Mothibatsela expressed delight at the gender balance and diversity in the youth team, saying it was pleasing to see the 12-member team being made of six males and six females who were drawn from all corners of the country.
All in all, the Botswana U20 Youth Athletics team received assistance of P 1 133 900 to help with the team’s preparations. The other P 600 000 was withdrawn from the existing P 9 million sponsorship by Debswana.
Still at the same ceremony, eight members of the support staff that recently accompanied the Botswana Olympic Team to Paris were each awarded P30 000 by Debswana, DBGSS and DTCB, being a token of appreciation for their contribution to the success of the team.
