Botswana Karate Association (BoKA) is worried by the poor pass rate from the recent referees’ course which was conducted by the federation.
BoKA conducted a referee’s course last in both Francistown and Gaborone concurrently.
The association hosted the course together with an online seminar on Covid-19 return to play awareness course.
As much as the return to play awareness course was imperative for clubs, the referees course attracted much interest after it emerged that the participants who took part failed to get a better pass mark.
The self-sponsored course attracted 14 participants altogether with seven at each venue.
In an interview with Voice Sport, BoKA Vice president-Technical David Hobona said the low pass rate and attendance is worrisome. “Im not happy with the attendance but I appreciate the difficulties in movement that are brought about by restrictions due to COVID-19 protocols. The pass rate is very low and is a cause for concern because none of the participants passed the referees and judges component,” he said.
Hobona pointed to prolonged inactivity in the local sports scene as the cause for the poor pass rate and turnout. “There has been very little karate activity from the BoKA calendar since the pandemic began, hence the low turnout. Referees need tournaments to keep practicing and getting good marks. Right now we are still analyzing the report from the referee’s commission, thereafter we will schedule a subsequent course,” said Hobona.
