Tanzania turns focus on 2014 C’wealth Games

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania Athletics (AT) technical committee is expected to meet on January 4, next year to select national team coaches ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it has been revealed.

The games scheduled for July 23 to August 3 in Glasgow, Scotland, will see 4,500 athletes compete for 261 medals in 17 sports at 14 venues around the European country.

“We need four coaches to train our 40-member provisional squad for the Glasgow games. The athletes are expected to camp in Dodoma early next month,” AT secretary general Suleiman Nyambui said yesterday.

Nyambui said over six coaches have been shortlisted for the job. But he fell short of naming them. He said the technical committee will select coaches for long distance runners, sprinters and field events.

“We want to have a panel of coaches who can propel our national athletics team to higher heights of success and restore our country’s dented pride in major international competitions,” said Nyambui. The AT secretary general said they have identified 40 young but talented athletes who “only need further polishing and international exposure to hit the limelight.”

“These athletes have the potential to excel internationally. They only need further polishing and international exposure to make a mark in the high-profile competitions like the Commonwealth Games.

He said some of them would make part of the national athletics team for the 2016 Olympic Games. “Medals at competitions of such magnitude are not won easily, it takes time to groom the athletes. Thus I am optimistic that we will achieve our mission,” he added.

For years, Tanzanian sportsmen and sports women have been faring poorly in both the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

In the 2012 London Olympics, the country fielded players in athletics, boxing and swimming but none of them won a medal.

Cash-strapped AT needs at least Sh300 million to facilitate the athletes’ smooth preparations for the Glasgow games, according to Nyambui. He said they have approached a number of institutions and individuals for financial support but none of them has so far responded positively.

“If all goes well, the athletes will report at camp in Dodoma next month,” he said, adding that they were working round the clock to raise the money. While at camp, the runners will be allowed to compete in various local and international championships to acquire the skills and exposure they need to sparkle at the Commonwealth Games.

Tanzania will also compete in boxing, cycling and table tennis in next year’s multi-sport event. On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth used her annual Christmas message to highlight the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Elizabeth II spoke of the international sporting event during her televised address, which took as its theme this year the importance of reflection. The monarch counselled that reflection, “be it through contemplation, prayer, or even keeping a diary”, could be “surprisingly rewarding” and offer people “greater spiritual depth to their lives”.

However, she pointed to the Glasgow Games to observe that “reflection is not just about looking back”.

She continued: “I and many others are looking forward to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year.

“The baton relay left London in October and is now the other side of the world, on its way across seventy nations and territories before arriving in Scotland next summer.

“Its journey is a reminder that the Commonwealth can offer us a fresh view of life.”

Her Majesty went on to describe the 53-member community, which is made up mostly of former British-held territories, as sharing a “common bond of friendship”.