Tanzania preps for Commonweath Games in top gear

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is set to feature in four sports in next year’s Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Birmingham, in United Kingdom from July 28 to August 8.

The sports are athletics, amateur boxing, swimming and Judo. Already National Sports Council (NSC) and Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) have jointly conducted meetings to discuss the preparations of the Tanzania team ahead f the multisport event.

The latest meeting held at NSC offices at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium and the supreme sports council in the country will issue the number of sportsmen who will represent the country in the event. NSC acting secretary general Neema Msitha confirmed to conduct the meeting with the sports associations. Msitha said they have selected active sports association ahead of the event.

“We have many sports in the country, but others are not that active and that’s why we have selected these four. The number of sportsmen and women for each association will be announced later,” said Msitha.

She said that they had limited time before the competition start. “We are happy to see four associations have been busy last year in both national and international competitions. We believe they will select the best sportsmen and women for the national team,” she said. The Birmingham event will feature 72 Commonwealth nations that will field about 5,000. Some 283 events from 20 different sports will be competed.

Tanzania has competed in 12 of the thirteen Commonwealth Games since 1966, following the Union of the country in 1964, missing only the 1986 Commonwealth Games. One of predecessor states, Tanganyika, competed in the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Tanzania was nineteenth in the medal tally with two medals, and was twenty-fourth in the All-time tally of medals, with an overall total of 21 medals.