| AT seeks Sh100m for athletes preparation | Send to a friend |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:13 |
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Athletics Tanzania (AT) is desperately seeking Sh100 million to enable its 35 Commonwealth Games-bound athletes camp. The association picked the provisional squad early this month for the tournament set to get underway in New Delhi, India on October 3. Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, AT secretary general Suleiman Nyambui said they planned to start training last week, but failed due to shortage of funds. “We’ve been striving to get the money, but to no avail. Our intention is to organise a joint training that will help them prepare intensively,” he said. Nyambui stressed: “We want to get the best athletes who will cart home medals, but that’s impossible if preparations don’t start early.” However, the official was optimistic that sponsors would come forward to support them before it gets too late. “We need plenty of cash, so it may be difficult to obtain, but I believe we can still get it in a couple of days,” the former marathoner said. In recent years, Tanzania’s performances in major events like the Commonwealth Games and Olympics Games have been far from impressive. He said: “In order to overturn our mediocre performances, we really have to prepare brilliant runners as early as possible.” According to Nyambui, the money they need would also cover participation of the athletes in the qualifying series. “We’ve received several invitations for our athletes to compete so that they qualify for the games, but we can’t honour them due to our financial situation,” he mused. The association plans to send all 35 runners to the games if they meet the required qualifying marks. Tanzania will also send eight boxers to the games after the BFT retained its membership from the world governing body, AIBA. The BFT was stripped of membership in 2008 following the arrest of its boxers and officials in Mauritius for trafficking drugs. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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