Gambia: Wrestling Team Calls On Youth And Sports Minister

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Babucarr Camara

23 June 2011

The national wrestling team of the Gambia led by the executive secretary of the National Sports Council Mamudu Max Jallow Wednesday paid a courtesy call on the minister of Youth and Sports following their third place finish at the just concluded Ecowas wrestling championship held in Senegal.

It would be recalled that the Gambian team was part of 13 West African nations that participated in the ECOWAS championship in the Senegalese capital of Dakar and for the third time in as many participations finished as the third placed team. The team was led by Mamudou Max Jallow as the head of delegation to Senegal and speaking at a meeting held at the Conference hall of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, thanked his ministry for making sure of the team’s smooth participation at the championship.

According to Max Jallow, his office was only notified of the team’s participation just a week before the championship started, but were still able to make efforts for their appearance with the tireless efforts of the permanent secretary, Alieu K Jammeh.

For a competition that is always hosted by French speaking countries, Jallow also revealed that he has proposed to the organizers that the Gambia will also be interested in hosting the next event in an Anglophone country which they can do through the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Also speaking at the meeting, the deputy director of the National Sports Council, Pa Suwareh Fye who was also part of the team to Senegal said after 13 years of travelling with various Gambian teams, this is the most committed he has ever seen. According to Pa Suwareh Fye, there is a great talent in these wrestlers and if they are given the required support will take the name of the country to higher heights.

The deputy director at the NSC also challenged the Gambia Wrestling Federation to start a national league as soon as possible and thanked the Gambian leader His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh “for making wrestling still alive in The Gambia” through his various programmes the highlights of which was “his programme at the July 22nd Square.”

The vice president of the Gambia Wrestling Association Abdoulie Bojang opined that since his Executives came on board they have done exceptionally well to rejuvenate the sports in the country before rejecting claims that his association have turned their back on the ministry. He added that they have constraints at the ministry (youth and sports) which complains of not having the money in the past. The head coach of the team, Omar Jeng made similar remarks and called on the ministry to invest in wrestling as it is a sport that will give you what you want in return when invested on.

The honourable minister, Sheriff ML Gomez started by congratulating the team for a job well done but challenged the association to put up the right structures as an association before knocking on his doors. According to the minister, “as a registered association, you should not start your complaints with financial constraints but rather there should be a plan in place first , then the ministry will know where they are putting their money at. Since I took office as the minister of Youth and Sports back in 2008, I never saw the plans and programmes of the Gambia Wrestling Association. There should be a national championship like Pa Fye mentioned, yes I have been invited to several championships but not a national one yet and we have an Arena at the Independence Stadium which is a state resource that is wasting because nothing is stopping you from using it.”

Minister Gomez added that if the current association cannot do the job, if necessary, they can dissolve it and bring in people who can do the job before adding that Gambians should have their own brand of wrestling that they should associate themselves with but not to copy other countries taking Senegal’s ‘Bore-Dore’ as an example. He also challenged the association to get to work immediately and write to his ministry through the National Sports Council in order to start working on a possible hosting of the next event.

The minister of Tourism and Culture, Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie said tourists are no more interested in the suns and beaches but rather the culture and since they are currently talking about sports tourism, they can possibly start with wrestling. According to her, they are ready to work with the Gambian association and “it is left with them (the association) whether they are ready to work with us. Wrestling is both part of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Tourism and Culture ministry so we will sit with all the parties concerned to see how to rejuvenate the sport of wrestling in the Gambia.”

AllAfrica – All the Time