NANCY RAMOKHUA
editors@thepatriot.co.bw
Creating history, New Era College attained 8 medals, finishing off second overall out of 63 institutions at the BOTESSA Athletics National Qualifiers. The 8 medals consist of 6 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
The highest contributor, also recognised as the overall best athlete of the year is Tshotlego Frecky. The 400m men hurdles champ performed exceptionally well. He won himself 4 medals of which he obtained 3 gold medals from the 400m mens hurdles, 110m mens hurdles, 4×400m mens relay and attained a silver medal for the 4×400m mens race. “I am proud of how I performed. My time has improved as last season I was on 53.43 in the 400m mens hurdles. I am now at 52.38 and this means a lot to the labour invested in my training,”Frecky said.
The BOTESSA President Keorapetse Setlhare declared the team’s performance commendable. He expressed gratitude to New Era management for raising champions. “I am happy that they have been given sholarship because these athletes have life after school. I am also happy that the school is going an extra mile in providing them with sports equipment,” Setlhare said. He stated that the corporate world only comes on board when athletes are going for big competitions such as the olympics and common wealth games. Setlhare therefore explained that it is good to nurture talent at its lowest level inorder to gain good results in the future.
According to the coach Phenyo Semumu, the team consists of a group of talented athletes. Despite the injuries experienced by two team members, Naledi Lopang and Phodiso Rampa, Semumu said he is proud of the exceptional performance by the athletes. “We have done extremely well as a team. Had we not experienced injuries on two of our athletes, without any doubt I am sure that we would have become the BOTESSA champions,” said Semumu.