Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National U-20 team’s qualification into AFCON Finals in Mauritania, the U-17 Girls’ conquest of COSAFA Cup, Simba and Namungo feats in CAF level tournaments and the Tanzanian pugilists’ stellar performance in the World Class heralded the 59th independence anniversary.
Altogether, sports towards the 59th anniversary of Tanzanian independence, gallantly won the big battle against coronavirus scare, by today when we celebrate it, all sports, gallantly march on comfortably, having shrugged off Covid-19 scare, which has ravaged the entire globe for about nine months.
Women football which is also on an uphill trend once again proved its superiority in the Southern Africa when gallant Tanzanian girls won the diadem after defeating Zambia 4-3 on spot kicks after a 1-1 draw at the end of 90 minutes.
As usual youthful striker Aisha who was the event’s top scorer was the success’ figure head.
Also best marked the 59th anniversary was the qualification of the National U-20 team, Ngorongoro Heroes into the African Cup of Nations(AFCON) finals whose kick off will be in March next year in Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
Tanzania and Uganda, qualified from the CECAFA Zone after the end of the regional under- 20 tournament in Karatu, Arusha last month.
The most recent, however, is the country’s promising start in the races for CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
Simba, the country’s envoys in the Champions League defeated Plateau United of Dodoma by 1-0 aggregate victory while Namungo, the envoys in Confederation Cup ousted Al Rabita of South Sudan.
In fact, the whole 59 years, Tanzania flag has risen severally and its national anthem heard at the medal ceremonies of major international competitions such as Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, All Africa Games and AfroAsian Games .
Most notable achievements in international competitions were recorded in athletics and boxing though such feat faded recently because the sector is hampered by a severe lack of funds and poor management that is restricting the ability of athletes to compete in international competitions.
As the country celebrate its 59th anniversary, it is important to revisit the history of sports development in modern day Tanzania, which can be traced back to colonialism era in the 19th century.
There is a consensus among historians of sport that colonial agents introduced sport to the country, then Tanganyika both for the natives and for themselves.
The historians hold that colonialists introduced Western sport into what is now Tanzania in the 1920s as part of the package of cultural imperialism and as a medium of socialisation, solace and bonding among themselves in distant lands.
But that does not mean that the natives were not engaged in sport before the colonists’ arrival. In fact, the society was active and participated in traditional sport such as wrestling, Bao and running.
