Gaborone — Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) will not reward Letsile Tebogo despite shattering the Africa record that stood for 27 years.

Last Sunday, at the Diamond League London Meet, Tebogo broke the 200m African record that was set by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics final.

Tebogo's time of 19.50 eclipsed Fredericks' longstanding 19.68 and he is currently ranked sixth all time.

BNSC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho disclosed that Tebogo will not be rewarded given that the current policy only covers records from multi-sport competitions such as the Olympic Games and African Games.

The policy also covers single sport competitions such as the African Championships and athletics World Championships.

"Sadly as a result of that, Letsile will not be eligible," he regretted.

Serufho said the policy, like any other, had scope for review and they wanted to actively explore if it could be reviewed to accommodate instances like this.

He explained that records from competitions like the Diamond League were recognised by relevant world governing bodies.

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president, Oabona Theetso said the policy could demoralise athletes in future.

He said the Diamond League was a meet which was sanctioned by World Athletics and was also used as a qualifier.

"As Botswana, can we say we are not sending Letsile to the Olympics because he qualified at the Diamond League? I doubt," he said.

Theetso said the British sprinter Zharnel Hughes, who finished behind Tebogo and broke the national record, was rewarded handsomely by his country.

"Now is Botswana saying the African record is nothing? I think he should be rewarded, and again it is not like these athletes break records at every meet," he said.

Theetso said they were happy that Tebogo had put both Botswana and Africa on the map through his latest exploit.

BOPA