Mikia Kalati
LESOTHO has become a sporting laughing stock after woeful performances on the international stage in various disciplines.
Our Rio Olympics team recently returned home empty-handed from Brazil, while the national soccer team, Likuena, completed a miserable 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Algeria a fortnight ago.
Before that, our national under-20 soccer side was outclassed by South Africa in the qualifiers for next year’s youth continental competition to be held in Zambia.
Likuena played in the final of the regional COSAFA Cup back in 2000, but 16 years on we cannot even repeat that feat.
If we were in the final 16 years ago, we should have won the regional competition by now, but instead all we can do is to celebrate the 2013 and 2016 semi-final and quarterfinal appearances respectively.
This can only mean all is not well in our country especially as far as sport transformation and development are concerned.
The standards have fallen drastically and even though there is so much evidence to prove it, it is unfortunate those in charge of our sports associations don’t see it that way.
Some of the sports associations have had the same presidents for more than three terms with nothing to show for it.
That is why I believe the Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission (LSRC) should introduce a policy in which administrators serve no more than two terms.
After all, the LSRC is already doing that for its own executive committee as shown by the departure of Limpho Mokhochane after serving as president for two terms late last year. She was replaced by Khiba Mohoanyane in January this year.
Some of the bigwigs are now so accustomed to being at the helm of their associations, they now feel like they own them.
A few years ago, we used to produce athletes who fared well at the highest levels and our teams were much better competitors.
We had the likes of Thabiso Moqhali who won a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games while Moses Kopo and Sepula Letuka got silver and bronze in the next two editions of the games respectively.
One would have expected that by now Lesotho would have ended its long wait for an Olympics medal dating back to the early 1970s when the country first participated in the global sporting showcase.
But nowadays we even struggle at the regional level.
And it is not because we no longer produce quality athletes but rather because of lazy administrators who are just happy to be travel the world while doing very little, if anything, to improve the standards of sports in the country.
It could all improve if administrators would serve just two terms.
That would mean that every now and then there would be new people coming on board with different expertise and fresh ideas, which certainly benefit the associations compared to the current status quo.
However, the reality is that we have just gone from bad to worse. There is need for a serious shake-up in our sports administration in order for us to get our groove back and compete again.
