Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) has introduced a new programme known as the Youth Athletes Scholarship.
This is in preparation for the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Senegal in 2026.
The programme, valued at E950 000, will be spread over the next 15 months, starting in October and stretching to December 2024.
This was revealed by EOCGA Chief Executive Officer Maxwell Jele during a press conference held at the institution’s offices in Lobamba yesterday. He said the programme would target seven top young athletes from five sporting codes, being athletics, swimming, boxing, taekwondo and cycling. Jele said considering all the challenges in terms of competition among top local athletes in international games, they noted some improvement from participants such as Sibusiso ‘Swazi Bolt’ Matsenjwa and others.
“We do note, however, that there is still a lot of ground to be covered hence we have been exploring various strategies on how we can close the gaps between our athletes and those from other countries. One of the strategies is to introduce the new programme the Youth Athletes Scholarship,” said Jele.
He said they had undertaken a process of identifying strategically some top athletes from some of the national federations, and through this they would avail the close to E1 million grant.
He said the programme would be launched in two weeks’ time where they would also announce the athletes.
“We are confident enough that the young athletes will represent us well in the Youth Olympics Games and we are looking forward to it as an association. If all goes well, we will renew the scholarship.
This is an exciting scholarship and it’s going to offload the burden from parents as we want to provide the best possible training for the athletes,” he said. Jele further announced the confirmation of Eswatini’s participation in the CDM’s seminar to take place in Ghana between next Monday and Tuesday.
He said EOCGA Treasurer Zakhele Zulu would attend it, and leaves the country on Saturday.
“We are looking forward for further information immediately he comes back to the country,” he said.
