THE Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports has directed the newly appointed Acting Sports Development Director Ally Mayay to strengthen the development of young talents to help build strong national teams for future global level competitions.
The Minister for Culture, Arts, and Sports, Mohamed Mchengerwa gave the directives during the Serengeti Girls flag off at Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in the city this week.
The U-17 Serengeti Girls expect to travel to Southampton, England on September 25th for two-week camp before leaving for India to participate in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup finals.
The World Cup will commence on October 11th and climax on 30th this year.
During the occasion, Mchengerwa urged the players to work hard and return to Dar es Salaam with pride as among the best performers.
“Tanzanians have high expectations and believe the team will do well.
We hope to see the team in the quarter-finals, semi-finals or finals; therefore, I urge you to work hard and return home with a World Cup trophy,” Mchengerwa noted.
During the reception, the Managing Director for National Insurance Corporation (NIC), Elirehema Doriye pledged to award the team 40 m/- if they enter the quarter-finals, 80 m/- if they reach semis and 100m/- if they reach the final stage.
Moreover, Mchengerwa noted that the government is ready to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations; hence he urged the Acting Sports Development Director Ally Mayay to prepare a well-organized work plan to meet the target.
That includes scouting young talents who will drill to strengthen and improve the national teams’ quality. Mchengerwa further insisted the scouting should consist of a database of all selected players.
The Minister added that the sports development department should work on producing more instructors with qualifications and help in building the national teams.
In addition, the Minister has also instructed Mayay to oversee the work plan of constructing 57 sports academies that will empower youth to develop their talents.