SPORTS REPORTER
Poor preparation is the main reason that Botswana has been knocked out in the first round of the ongoing 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad, the Secretary General of Botswana Chess Federation (BCF), Mokwaledi Tingwane, has told Business Weekly & Review Sports.
Theย 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiadย is a worldwide online event where hundreds of participants of more than 100 different national teams are competing to be crowned champions.
The event, which began on August 20ย and is scheduled to end on September 15,ย is taking place on Chess.com server. For the local team to make it to the next round, they had to finish in the top three of their group which had 10 teams.
โBut the team failed to meet our expectations,โ said Tingwane. โWe finished fifth in our group and did not proceed to the next group.โ
Tingwane blames the teamโs dismal performance on failure to convene the players, who were scattered all over the country, in one place for preparations. โSome were abroad in the USA and South Africa,โ he said.
โWe needed accommodation and all the necessary support to have the players in one place. The other teams that went to the next round had all the relevant support. Asking players to use the Internet is not ideal.โ
Besides, the team did not have a proper training camp prior to the competition because the invitation came late, according to Tingwane. โWhen players are not together, training them becomes a problem,โ he said.
He said a total of P15 750 was spent on the competition at which Botswana had a 12-strong team.
