Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general, Filbert Bayi.PHOTO|FILE
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The 2014 Games will see 4,500 athletes compete for 261 medals in 17 sports, at 14 venues.
Dar es Salaam. As Team Tanzania fine-tunes for Commonwealth Games, the participation of five local athletes in the multi-sport hangs in the balance.
Team Tanzania, now camping in Coast Region, is expected to leave for Glasgow, Scotland on July 16 for the Games scheduled for July 23 to August 3.
The Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general, Filbert Bayi, told The Citizen on Saturday yesterday, that five of the athletes making up the squad might not process visas to Scotland on time.
He named them as swimmers Magdalena Moshi, Mariam Foum, Hilal Hilal and Ammar Ghadiyali. Also in the list is the country’s cycling sensation Richard Laizer.
“It is with regret that I can confirm that five of the athletes named recently to form Team Tanzania for the Commonwealth Games may be forced to miss out on the Games.
“Four of them are now in New Zealand and have to process visas through their associations after failing to meet the deadline,” said Bayi.
“It takes 28 days for Tanzanian citizens to acquire the visa, and, on top of that, TOC can not bother to help them out because they defied our instructions to process the visas on time,” he added.
He said Laizer, who is now in Switzerland, will have to process a visa through the Cycling Association of Tanzania (CAT).
When contacted for comment on the matter, the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) secretary general, Noel Kiunsi, admitted that four swimmers and their trainer Ramadhan Namkoveka were yet to secure visas to Scotland.
The athletes expected to make the trip to Scotland for the Games are Abdullah Shaib Abdallah (weightlifting) and his trainer Jalinus Issa Suleiman.
