Government serious on preps for Paris Olympic

DAR ES SALAAM: The Minister for Arts, Culture and Sports Damas Ndumbaro has challenged the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) to see ways forward to ensure enough athletes participate in next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

The minister made a call to the committee citing that in most occasions the national team has been represented with a very few number of athletes but accompanied by a huge number of officials.

“I want to see more athletes taking part in global competitions such as the Summer Olympic Games next year in Paris. The only way these sportsmen and women can participate in these global games is if they meet the qualifying mark.

“I urge TOC to see ways they can ensure more athletes participate in qualifying games that will earn them the privilege to represent our country in such global games.”

Recently, Minister Ndumbaro took part in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between his ministry and the French Embassy. The MoU will see the two countries partnering in arts and sports-related activities.

In the signing ceremony, the minister asked the French Embassy to support Tanzanian athletes in their pursuit of summer Olympics qualification, recognizing that Tanzania has lots of talent, but lacks a platform for showcasing that talent.

“It’s sad that recently I was told there are two athletes who took part in a marathon in the country and met the qualifying mark. Unfortunately, the marathon they took part in was not registered under Olympic qualifying entry standards.”

The Deputy Ambassador of France, Axel Guillon nodded to the minister’s proposition. He cited that they recently introduced an initiative ‘Twende Olympic’ that will help youths in the country realise their dreams in sports.

Twende Olympic was introduced in July this year with over 1.6 bn/- worth with the aim to support sports practice in Tanzania and promote the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games in close collaboration with the responsible ministry.