Botswana Darts Association (BODA)’s newly appointed Public Relations Officer (PRO) Thato Maphorisa says his appointment came at a very sad time after the demise of the former BODA PRO Neo Badubi back in May 2020.
In an interview with Voice Sport this week, Maphorisa said he has was aware of the huge responsibility that comes with his appointment. “I have big shoes fill, but the honour comes at the right time as this sporting code needed a serious transformation and public selling which I am confident I can provide through this post,” he said.
The latest appointments of the Tournament Director, Victor Wolfenden, and PRO Maphorisa were announced on Friday (21 August 2020) and they are expected to resume work effective immediately.
Maphorisa outlined his mandate to revitalize the sporting code. “My plan is to make Batswana aware of this sporting code, I am going to try and grow this sport by engaging international bodies and committees so that we can be able to benchmark and make progress from the findings.
Moreover, we want to introduce this sport to schools as grassroots are important to develop this sporting code,” outlined Maphorisa.
He further highlighted that he is not new in the darts arena. “I got introduced to darts back in 2007. I went on to represent the country in South Africa but I came back empty-handed, fast forward to 2014, I represented the country in Zimbabwe with the Under 18 and won two bronze medals, then in 2016 I competed in Namibia in the Under-25 category and won a bronze just to mention a few,” Maphorisa highlighted.
Though not as popular as other sporting codes, the newly appointed PRO says the darting sport has been around for a while and he is determined to further take it to the people.“I have been in this sport for quite a while. There are two regions, i.e Northern Region Darts League and Southern Region Darts League, so I have been playing and coordinating the northern region but now I will be in charge of all regions and I am ready to deliver,” said the PRO.