Gaborone — Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) is the sport code to beat this year following the release of nominees for the 45th National Sport Awards billed for May 9.
BAA is leading the charge with a record eight nominations and and emerging talents.
All eyes would be on the Junior Male Sportsperson of the Year, where nominees include Justice Oratile of Athletics, Ntungamili Raguin of Tennis and Edwin Nyoka of Bowling.
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As the adjudication panel concludes its rigorous assessment, the spotlight shifts to the finalists vying for the title of the nation’s best.
All eyes would be on the Junior Male Sportsperson of the Year, where nominees include Justice Oratile of Athletics, Ntungamili Raguin of Tennis and Edwin Nyoka of Bowling.
In an interview, the adjudication panel chairperson, Dr Lebone Kasale said the high volume of submissions this year demonstrated the immense talent within the local sport industry.
Dr Kasale emphasized that each entry was carefully evaluated through an impartial review process guided by the 2023 Awards Adjudication Guidelines, which were recently amended to accommodate new performance-related developments.
He explained that athletes were judged using a holistic assessment tool which accounted for performance quantitatively, scoring athletes based on the level of competition at national, regional, continental, international, Commonwealth, World or Olympics and their progress at baseline, semi-finals, finals or medal placement.
He added that the tool qualitatively assessed factors such as improvement, impact and discipline.
For National Sport Associations (NSAs), he said the process included a compliance matrix to verify legal status with the Registrar of Societies, BICA accreditation for treasurers and submission of audited financial reports.
“Each adjudicator conducted an individual assessment and their scores were averaged to determine the final score. The top three scorers in each category were then listed as the nominees,” Dr Kasale said.
This year’s key nominees include the Sportsman of the Year title which would be contested by Collen Kebinatshipi of Athletics, Goitseone Phoko of Football and Tumiso Phuthego.
The Sportswoman of the Year category features Oratile Nowe of Athletics alongside chess stars, Centy Kgosikoma and Naledi Banda.
In the coaching department, the Coach of the Year nominees are Chilume Ntshwarang of BAA, Phenyo Matong of Tennis and BFA’s Under-20 national team coach Tapaphiwa Gaebolae.
For the Team of the Year, the athletics senior men’s 4x400m relay team would face off against the Davis Cup tennis team and the 4x400m mixed relay team from BOTESSA.
Other notable nominations include BAA, Botswana Swimming Association (BSA) and Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) for the National Sport Association of the Year award.
Same Mhutsiwa of Athletics, Melodi Saleshando of Swimming and Neelo Modise of Judo would compete for the Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year while Sport Administrator of the Year nominees comprise presidents Kudzani Motswagole of Table Tennis, Marea Modutlwa of Bowling and BFA’s Tariq Babitseng.
The Umpire of the Year nominees include Oratile Ndadziila of Athletics, Abel Mataboge of Softball and Doroth Okatch of Basketball while the Female Sportsperson with Disability nominees are Omphile Botlhasitse of Tennis and Gloria Majaga of PASSOBO.
BOPA