Samson Ramadhani of Tanzania leads Fred Mogaka Tumbo of Kenya during the Men’s Marathon at the Commonwealth Games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 19, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. Ramadhani won the gold medal and Tumbo took silver. PHOTO | FILE
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The country fielded 46 competitors in the previous Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland, but CGF has reduced the number to 26, according to Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general,Filbert Bayi.
Dar es Salaam. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has reduced the number of Tanzanian athletes for next year’s event scheduled to be held in Gold Coast, Australia.
The country fielded 46 competitors in the previous Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland, but CGF has reduced the number to 26, according to Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general,Filbert Bayi.
Bayi told The Citizen that he had received a letter from the games’ organisers showing that next year’s quota was 20 less than the number of places allocated to Tanzania in previous events.
He said the main reason for reducing the number of athletes was Tanzania’s performance in previous games. He added that the country did not win any medals despite being given a generous quota.
Bayi said the decision was a big blow to Tanzanian athletes, adding that TOC would now only focus on active sports ahead of the Games scheduled for April 4-15, next year.
He added that apart from athletes, Tanzania’s continent would also include coaches and team managers while the head of delegation and other officials had been placed in a different criteria.
“This is bad news for Tanzanian athletes...the number has been reduced, which is a challenge for sports bodies. We have to be very keen on selection of the athletes ahead of the games, and we have only seven months to pick our team ahead of the games.
“We have to focus on active sports bodies. We will conduct an analysis and come out with the best solution. Twenty six athletes is less than the number of sports in the country, which normally field athletes in the event,” said Bayi.
The TOC secretary general said there were sports that were required to seek qualification ahead of the games. They are basketball, beach volleyball, netball, hockey, rugby and weightlifting.
Others are para events, which include table tennis, lawn tennis, cycling and weightlifting. All athletes have to qualify through international competitions to be held in both Africa and outside the continent.
Open allocation sports include athletics, amateur boxing, cycling, swimming, table tennis, squash, lawn tennis and gymnastics.
“It is a task for the sports bodies in the country to start preparations, compete internationally and win. If we continue to perform poorly in the Games, the number will continue to drop.
“We have many sports bodies that are not active. This is very bad. TOC will only communicate with sports bodies that are active as we do not want to continue losing money by sending big teams that come back empty-handed,” he said, addfing that for a long time runners had been doing well in the games. Tanzania won two medals in the 2006 Melbourne Games through Samson Ramadhan, who won the gold medal in the men’s marathon, and Fabiano Joseph, who won bronze in the men’s 10,000 metres.
