The Women and Sport Botswana (WASBO) in collaboration with Inside BW Women Sports will this month hold the first ever Women Sports Awards which are meant to honour and recognise sports women.
The inaugural awards will be held on March 25th at Lekidi Centre in Gaborone. They are also supported by the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC), Botswana Football Association (BFA) and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC).
Categories for the awards includes, sports woman of the year, coach of the year, administrator of the year, young promising female athlete, sports woman of the year with disability, champion for equality, volunteer of the year, umpire of the year, team of the year, sports journalist of the year and He For She champion.
In an interview, WASBO Marketing and Public Relations Officer Thulaganyo Retshabile explained that the awards are meant to honour and recognise female athletes, administrators and entities that have greatly influenced women and sport in Botswana.
She added that through the awards they also intend to close the gender gap in the local sport. Furthermore, Retshabile indicated that the awards will serve as a build up towards WASBO Special Award at the annual Botswana Sport Awards.
BFA Head of Women Football Tsholofelo Sethoko appreciated that the awards will boost the morale of the recipients stressing that it is very important to reward people when they have done very well as that proves that they are being recognised.
“I am so excited about the categories that have been included in the awards because they are very important. As we know that our senior women national football team participated at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) for the first time in history last year, so I am happy that they have been nominated for the awards,” she told Times Sport.
In addition, Sethoko hopes for the individuals who have gone an extra mile in the development of women sports to also be recognised. She noted that as the BFA they wish for the awards to grow in the next coming years.
Head coach of the Botswana senior women national football team, Gaolethoo Nkutlwisang is also delighted that they have been nominated for the awards more so that they qualified for the WAFCON for the first time in history of local women football. She said that the inaugural awards are a big achievement as they signify growth of the local sports.
