Tanzania’s participation in Games hangs in the balance

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 With just five months left before the start of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, hopes  for Tanzania minting medals at the quadrennial meet are increasingly fading.

Tanzania, a country boasting a glorious past, has no single athlete with the marks to compete at the event planned for Glasgow, Scotland from July 23.

Despite planning for camps abroad, the likes of Kenya and Ethiopia, who always grab medals at various events, have qualified athletes who have already been honing their skills at different camps.

With sports associations moving at a snail’s pace, the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) has come out expressing concern over the country’s participation at the Glasgow event.

TOC secretary general Filbert Bayi told The Citizen yesterday that all sports bodies have failed to comply with regulations guiding the Commonwealth Games participation. Bayi whose 1974 Commonwealth Games record has yet to be broken disclosed that no association has submitted details of their athletes to them, dropping a hint that Tanzania may as well miss out on this edition.

“It is a cause for concern; Tanzania is the only country that is far behind schedule. There are no athletes with the marks required and I think sports bodies aren’t doing enough to save the nation’s face,” said the legendary runner.

Bayi said Tanzania’s participation at the Commonwealth Games now hangs in the balance because a lot of issues have not been sorted out to meet the deadline.

“We can as well miss out on this edition if the sports bodies don’t act timely…it will be a big shame,” he said. “The worst part of it is that there is a tug-of-war between some Mainland sports officials and their Zanzibar counterparts, who have to-date not yet compromised on who should go to Glasgow,” he said.

“What I would suggest is that they have to agree on issues, short of which they will deny their athletes chances  of taking part in the games,” said Bayi.

With regards to the slow progress, Bayi said that they have directed all the associations to meet with TOC’s technical committee today to discuss the fate of their associations.

“The technical committee will discuss with association officials about their athletes’ participation, failure to do that, the committee will come up with its final decision,” he said.

Athletics Tanzania (AT), according to its secretary general and Olympic silver medallist Suleiman Nyambui, needs plenty of cash if they are to take 40 runners to Scotland.