Tanzania may field only two at Olympic Games
Brian Stuart hits his tee shot on the 15th hole during the pro-am prior to the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. The competition, which ends on April 4, is the 6th oldest professional tournament in golf world-wide; the 3rd oldest on the PGA Tour - and the longest held in the same city. PHOTO | afp
What you need to know:
Swimmers Collins Saliboko and Hilal Hilal are required to compete in South Africa’s Games qualifying tourneys this month
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania could end up sending the smallest squad in its history to the Summer Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan, from July 23 to August 8 this year.
That was said by the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general, Filbert Bayi, in an exclusive interview with The Citizen yesterday.
Tanzania started to compete in the Olympics in 1964 - also in Tokyo, Japan - at which four runners competed. Again, four sportsmen represented Tanzania in the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. In the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany, Tanzania was represented by 15 sportsmen.
The country missed out the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. However, it sent 41 sportsmen to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. The country then sent 18 sportsmen to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the USA; ten sportsmen in the 1988 Olympics in South Korea; nine sportsmen in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Other Olympic Games in which Tanzania participated (with the number of the country’s participating sportsmen shown in brackets) were: Atlanta-1996 (Seven sportsmen); Sydney-2000 (Four); Greece-2004 (Eight); 2008 Beijing-2008 (Eight); London-2012 (Six), 2016 Rio de Janeiro-2016 (Seven sportsmen).
However, not all the athletes met the set qualifying marks, as most of them competed on the ‘universality places’ basis.
Bayi said that so far only two runners have secured qualification marks for the Tokyo Games. Also, a number of qualifying events have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
So far, only runners Alphonce Simbu and Failuna Matanga have qualified for the Tokyo Games this year.
On the list of Tanzanian sportsmen required to seek Tokyo Games qualifying events are Judokas, amateur boxers and swimmers.
He said the amateur boxing qualifying event slated to be held in Paris, France, has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and amateur boxers would be selected through their ranking records.
But, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Boxing Task Force (BTF) will give priority to amateur boxers who qualify as per rules and regulations, followed by their ranking records.
“We hope that our boxers who did well in Dakar, Senegal, will be selected - although they did not reach the semifinal stage of the event,” said Bayi.
Two swimmers - Collins Saliboko and Hilal Hilal - are required to compete in South Africa’s Olympic Games qualifying competition scheduled for April 7-to-12 in Port Elizabeth.
Also in April this year, Judokas are expected to travel to Casablanca, Morocco, to compete in qualifying events.
“Swimmers do not face such restrictions, and Saliboko is already in South Africa training ahead of the Tokyo Games,” Bayi revealed - adding that his “worry is for Judokas who are required to compete in Morocco’s qualifying events... And, till now, they do not know their fate!”
