Sierra Leone Athletics Association boss speaks on funding support
Head of the athletics union in Sierra Leone, Mr. Abdul Karim Sesay (in photo) has told Sierra Express sports that the country’s athletes have improved their qualities to better standards.
Speaking two days after athletes from the Sierra Leone Association of Athletes (SLAA) returned from a grumpery tourney they partook in Nigeria’s Wari region; he said the Sierra Leonean athletes excelled in the 4 x 1 and 4 x 4 relay races as they achieved 6th and 4th positions in the overall racing respectively.
A total of 14 athletes went ashore to represent Sierra Leone and 11 made it to Ghana to also partake in the ECOWAS All African Games qualifiers wherein the female national side excelled and booked a place ahead of the forthcoming All African Games tournament.
The 14 athletes, according to Mr. AK Sesay left in the face of plenty constrains to meet flight conditions which means space was not enough to accommodate all the top-form athletes that would have teamed up in competing to record a more satisfying victory.
The Sierra Leone athletes have already become a force to reckon with in the African International competitions following their print of indelible marks in the games.
However, the government needs to allocate funds to have the national side ready in with all the necessary pre-tournament arrangements to partake in the All African Games and preceding tournaments.
Athletics is Sierra Leone’s most successful sport forming part of the 17 sporting disciplines in the country. Mr. Sesay said they often face constraints in terms of securing funding, safe for the fact that interested parties have begun emerging in rescue of the team.
Speaking further on plans to improve the athletics in the country, Mr. Sesay said a coaches license course has been organized targeting all coaches from the regional provinces and that each regional district is now having a coach.
This measure, according to Mr.Sesay, was put in place to ensure that the various coaches scout to catch young athletes emerging from the various schools and competitors from provincial levels and have them in form to compete in two folds of maturation levels.
“The feeder athletics category will compete on schools competition level and the provincial champions will compete in the senior category which applies for all the athletics division and under the auspices of the Sierra Leone Athletic Association”, Mr. Sesay stated.
He said the SLAA has had many successful hallmarks to show as they’ve been able to produce record breaking marathon runners at international levels.
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