Tanzania to host Eastern Africa athletics event next month

Dar es Salaam. Athletics Tanzania (AT) has been given a chance to host the Eastern Africa athletics youths and junior championships.

The event has been scheduled to take place early next month at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, according to AT acting secretary general Jackson Ndaweka.

Ndaweka said they are expecting to host more than 10 countries from the region. The event will feature U-18 and U-20 athletes.

He said they are now in preparations ahead of the event and that AT’s technical committee will meet very soon to select the coaches who will be in charge of the two teams.

“We are doing well in preparations, gearing up for hosting such a major international event. It is a top honour to host an international competition that will help us gauge the skills of our runners.

“We expect the event will be very stiff with young runners aiming at scoring good records,” said Ndaweka.

He said the local runners who will feature in the event are now in intensive training. “It’s our expectations that our local runners will fare well in the championship even as they are very competitive,” he said.

According to Ndaweka, they have already sent an application to Azam Television to beam live the championships for two days.

“We are yet to receive a reply, but we hope to get a positive answer from them. The live coverage of the two-day event will enable more athletics fans to watch it in their homes,” he said.

Ndaweka called on junior runners to sharpen their skills ahead of the event.

He noted that Tanzania has so many young talented runners, who can make the country proud internationally.

“We need to scout then and improve their standards,” he said.