By Leocadia Bongben
The President of the National Athletics Federation, Ange Sama, has intimated that whenever the Federation is fined for the absence of Françoise Mbango at the All Africa Games in Algeria, both the Ministry and the Athletic Federation would have to pay because he did not select the triple jump star for the Games.
Speaking during a press conference at the premises of the Federation recently, when quizzed on who would pay the fine as has been the case in the past, Ange Sama said that since the Ministry gave the accord for Françoise Mbango to participate in the games following a part of the law that he did not master at the time, the Ministry would therefore have to contribute to the payment of the fine.
He equally maintained that he would not sanction Françoise Mbango for the same reason that he did not select her but has already suspended one of the athletes he selected while waiting for a written explanation.
It would be noted that Françoise Mbango collected the flight ticket and the FCFA 500.000 bonus offered by the Ministry but did not show up for the Games in Algeria.While appreciating the performance of the athletes and the coaches, in most disciplines, they were unanimous that the athletes did improve their performances though only a bronze medal was won by Hugo Mamba in the triple jump.
They attributed their poor performance to bad luck and
the participation of the athletes in difficult series.The President identified lack of finances and infrastructure as some of
the problems plaguing the federation since they don't receive
subvention from the Ministry.
National Athletics Champion Billed For Bafoussam
Meanwhile, as part of programme of activities of the federation, Sama
announced that the National Athletics Championship is billed for
Bafoussam from the 11-12 of August.
Ange Sama gave out a cheque of FCFA 1.8 m to the Secretary General,
Kamougne Jean Claude, for the preparations, promising to take care of
the transportation of officials to Bafoussam and the prizes for the
athletes.
Kamougne said that preparations are underway with the cleaning of the stadium that has been abandoned and in a state of dilapidation for about 20 years now. He maintained that measures are being taken to lodge and feed 160 athletes, with five sites ready to house the 32 officials.
Puma To Kit Athletes For Two Years
According to the President of FECAATHLETICS, negotiations that started in 2005 with the Sports Wear manufacturing company, PUMA, has yielded fruits thanks to the relentless contribution of the National Olympic President, Colonel Kalkaba Malboum. PUMA would therefore dress the athletes for competitions as they had already done in during the Mount Cameroon race and the All Africa Games in Algeria.
The style sports kit would change accordingly and these would be supplied directly at the competition ground to ensure transparency. Sama maintained that the partnership with PUMA for now does not have any financial involvements.
He announced other immediate programmes in the pipeline starting with the African Junior championship billed for Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and the Osaka, Japan 46th congress billed for August.
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