The Minister of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation (MGYSR) says the government is committed to developing sports in the country.

She said this when officially opening the fifth Vision 2020 National Youth Games at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Roma campus on Friday.

Mrs. Lepono said the government has increased the budget for the Games by 50 percent and that it is going to construct playing grounds in all the ten districts.

She therefore called on the athletes to do their part of displaying their God given talents and stop abusing alcohol and drugs

The Minister said the Vision 2020 National Youth Games are aimed at discovering raw talent at the tender age so that Lesotho can fare well in international competitions like the Commonwealth and Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone VI Games.

The Minister took the opportunity to encourage the athletes to go for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) which will be provided as part of life skills to the youth throughout the tournament.

Mrs. Lepono wished the athletes successful Games. She also wished them a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Speaking at the same event, MGYSR Principal Secretary Mr. Makalo Theko said the Games were moved from Maseru to Roma due to the on-going renovation at the Setsoto stadium.

He said that could be the last year the Games are held at Roma as they are expecting the stadium to be fully completed by April next year.

However, he said since the government is intending to construct sporting facilities at each of the ten districts, the Games will rotate with districts bidding to get the rights to host them.

In a brief interview, Event Director Ms. Moleboheng Mokobocho said the Vision 2020 National Youth Games have a bright future wherein raw talent is being unearthed.

To attest to this, she said that during this year's SCSA Youth Games held in Potchefstroom South Africa, almost all the athletes who represented the country had been identified at these games.

Ms. Mokobocho said the Games are improving each year as they have included boxing and taekwondo thus increasing the number of sporting disciplines to seven.

This year's Vision 2020 National Youth Games are being contested by athletes aged under 18 and will be closed officially next week Monday.

Berea is the defending champion after being overall winners of the competition last year, followed in second place by Qacha's Nek while Mafeteng scooped the third position.

There is a floating trophy awarded to overall winners while outstanding athletes get medals for their efforts.

Source: LENA 18/12/09