Principal Sports coordinator in the Department of Sports and Recreation (DSR), Andrew Kamanga, said arrangements have been made for the quartet to arrive in December, but there have been some delays due to 'airline problems.' "We should be seeing them anytime. The problem is that they had no visas for their final destination."The four are: Lionel Dominguez, who has been in the country before and will be filling in Ramon Drake's place.
Unlike Drake, Dominguez will be taking over as technical advisor and is expected to empower the boxing fraternity by upgrading local coaches.
He is also expected to produce referee-judges and develop the youth, hence development of the sport at grassroots level as well as preparing the national team.
As head coach Drake focused in the national team taking local boxers around the world, which resulted in the team dominating the zone six championships and individual boxers excelling in international tournaments.
With Drake's skills and experience, Cuban-based Khumiso Ikgopoleng and Lechedzani Luza took part in the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Jorge Silot, who was the technical expert in volleyball, contributed a lot in the development of the sport. The Cuban memento also assisted in training some of the secretariat staff.
In place of Silot, the volleyball federation will enjoy yet the expertise of Luis Bonilla who is expected to take over from where Silot left off.
The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) will welcome Jim Jefferson who will be taking over from Pablo Diaz, also one knowledgeable expert in the field of athletics who saw local athletes putting the country on the world map.
The federation took pride in the likes of Johnson Kubisa, California Molefe, Glody Dube and some of the country's best athletes who excelled in international games, especially high jumper Kabelo Mmono who brought a gold medal from the All Africa games.
Botswana Basketball Association (BBA) has seen their game improve tremendously in the four years that Roberto Hernandez was in the country.
Franklin Johnson is expected to continue Hernandez's good work in so far as developing the sport further.
Kamanga said that the Cuban mementoes have been signed on two-year contracts, but may have to renew the contracts depending on their performance.
"We are going to see how they contribute to our sport, and if they do a good job, then there might be need to sign more agreements with Cuba to renew their contracts.
I am hopeful that they will contribute a great deal in and play a very critical role in preparing the athletes for international tournaments, especially for China in 2006 and Beijing in 2008," Kamanga said.
"I hope our local coaches and trainers will learn a lot from their expertise and will gain knowledge they need for our sports to develop." Cuba has concentrated more on building sport and has collaborated with other countries in their efforts to improve sport. The country has assisted Botswana in increasing its representation and participation in the field of sports. BOPA

By: Dailynews