AfricaPress-Tanzania: HARDLY a few hours before confirmation deadline, only 13 regions out of invited 31 have confirmed to send runners for the National Athletics championship in Dar es Salaam next month.
Athletics Tanzania’s Information and Communication Officer, Tullo Chambo has unveiled in Dar es Salaam that only 13 regions have affirmed their participation in the event to be staged from September 12th and 13 at the Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
According to Chambo the championship’s deadline is today August 21st and the regions that have not confirmed are urged to do it now since it is not the event to miss.
He said there will be no additional time for those who fail to confirm participation in one of the major events in the AT’s calendar.
The two-day championship which was earlier rescheduled twice due to various reasons was initially to be staged on August 15th and 16th before being pushed forward to September 5th and 6th.
Its latest date is September 12th , according to Chambo.
Chambo named the regions which have confirmed participation as Mara, Manyara, Dodoma, Njombe, Iringa, Shinyanga, Geita, Kilimanjaro and the five regions of Zanzibar starting from Mjini Magharibi, then Kusini Unguja, Kaskazini Unguja, Kaskazini Pemba and Kusini Pemba.
He further added that three regions; Arusha, Kigoma, Kagera have only presented the names of their teams, they have not yet filled the special registration form which will guarantee their participation in the event.
“We would like to remind all the regions which have yet to confirm to ensure they complete the procedure within the remaining hours before the deadline to avoid embarrassment, ’’ said Chambo.
Among the notable regions which have not confirmed include the hosts Dar es Salaam, Tabora, Coast, Singida, Mbeya, Mwanza, Tanga, Songwe and Ruvuma.
Speaking about preparations of this year’s championship, Chambo said that everything was on track for the event which will attract more than 300 athletes.
TOC will facilitate the championship with a support from Olympic Solidarity (OS) and Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).
TOC will use the championship to pick best athletes, who will be trained and later sent to compete for qualifications for the 2020 Olympic Games.
To-date, only two athletes – Alphonce Simbu and Failuna Matanga have met the Olympic Games qualification standards.
The championship will involve various field and track events such as 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m races, Relay for 100X 4 and 4X 400 events, long jump, triple jump, Discus, Shot Put as well as Javelin throws.
