Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has advised all athletes to be vaccinated as they are at risk of Covid-19 due to their multiple interactions with many people, especially from other countries.
President Samia said this on Sunday as she received the CECAFA Challenge Cup 2021 trophy from the Under-23 squad in a ceremony held at the State House in Dar es Salaam.
“Covid-19 vaccine is important to athletes; I strongly recommend all athletes who have not been vaccinated to be vaccinated.”
During that occasion, she met with the Under-23 and Olympic national teams as they proudly represented the country well, where she urged other teams to take the example of Under-23 success, winning the CECAFA title as an incentive to do well in various international competitions.
Similarly, President Samia called on the Olympic Committee to evaluate itself and develop a strategy to increase the number of participants in various competitions instead of the current situation where the national team travelled with more leaders than athletes.
“The fact is that for a great nation Tanzania to be represented with three players in various sports in the world is a shame.” She insisted it is essential to take sports seriously as it promotes the country’s identity internationally, and so it is our Tanzania marathoners Alphonce Simbu and Failuna Abdi Matanga who gave honour to our country during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“I congratulate our youngsters for bringing us this trophy, and I am confident your victory will inspire other national teams to do well in the forthcoming international competitions. “As sports is the country’s identity, most people in the world knew Tanzania in the ‘70s and ‘80s through our famous athletes Filbert Bayi, Seleiman Nyambui and Juma Ikangaa; I know some people have come to know our country recently through Alphonce Simbu and Failuna. So sports identify countries anywhere in the world.”
As well as congratulating the two national teams for their achievements, President Samia told sports officials and stakeholders that there is a need to develop the talents of those young stars and not use them when they need them and abandon them after using them.
“We believe that the success of our national team (Under-23) is a journey to achieve another success if only we will take care of these youngsters and promote them to enter big competitions but if we let them go home, after achieving what we need we will not reach anywhere in this journey we are talking about.”
On the same occasion, President Samia wished the best of luck to senior men national team “Taifa Stars” in the preparation of FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier and women national team “Twiga Stars” preparations to Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) competitions.
“I know our men’s national teams “Taifa Stars” and women’s “Twiga Stars” are preparing for various competitions.
For example, Taifa Stars are preparing for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and the Twiga Stars are preparing to participate in the COSAFA tournament in South Africa. I wish them luck in their preparations; I assure you that the ministry will be ready to help what is needed so you can do well.”
