BW youngsters dart to victory
Showing nerves of steel to go with their accurate arrows, a team of teenage darts players overcame a tricky build-up to triumph at the AUSC Region V Youth Championships in Lusaka, Zambia last week.
Going in as defending champions and featuring a mixture of U/18 and U/15 players, the 16-member squad beat off competition from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini as well as the hosts, Zambia, to retain their 2019 title.
In throwing their way to 158 points, 10 more than second-placed Zim, Botswana won 10 medals, a haul that included four golds, three silvers and three bronzes.
The tournament, which ran from 29 August to 1st September, was divided into three categories: singles, doubles, and team events.
In a brief interview with Voice Sport, delighted Botswana Darts Association (BDA) PRO, Thato Maphorisa hailed the team’s ‘heroic’ performance.
“We are very happy that we were able to defend our position and that the obstacles we faced did not have a negative impact on our players,” said Maphorisa, who listed a lack of training camps and a wafer-thin budget as the biggest humps.
“BNSC has changed its funding programme and we are only awarded P35, 000 which we are supposed to use for the entire financial year. For this trip we needed around P150, 000, so we had to seek help from parents to help us with contributing for the children’s transport,” revealed Maphorisa.
