cameroun

 :Some 30 athletes are in camp in Yaounde to prepare for the event.

The 15th edition of the African Athletics Championship will take place in the Mauritius Islands from August 9 to 13, 2006. Organised by the African Athletics Confederation (CCA) under the supervision of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the competition will bring together the cream of athletes from the continent.

Ahead of this important event some 30 athletes of the national athletics team are currently in camp in Yaounde to prepare for the competition. In a press briefing last week, the President of the Cameroon Athletics Federation, Ange Sama, said the federation has decided to organise a training programme comprising home base athletes. "We do not have the means to open a training center such the one in Dakar that will follow up the performance of athletes. We have to prepare ourselves," he said. Even though the athletes have five months to prepare, the President thinks time is running out. "We are always faced with the problem of inadequate preparation. So we have to do something," he added. The training will also permit the athletes to know each other and work together as a team. The FCA has put in place a technical team and a medical team which will follow up the athletes technically and health wise. "We want to prove that by training in Cameroon our athletes can still put up ou tstanding performances despite the poor state of infrastructures in the country," said he. The President called on the government to take necessary measures so that the national athletics team arrives early for the African Championship.

Ange Sama used the occasion to denounce certain negative declarations made by Cameroon's Olympic champion, Françoise Mbango, in a foreign media last week. Françoise Mbango said many people had not respected their promises after her memorable performance in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

According to Ange Sama, the Olympic Champion who is now resident in the United States of America, forgot to inform the foreign media that the government spent millions on her after the victory. Secondly she was given all the honours fit for an Olympic champion such as lodging in a five star hotel for almost one year which cost the government some CFA 45 million (12 million telephone bills), hired a luxury car for 26,646,000 while waiting for the car promised by the Head of State. The Head of State finally offered her a car worth CFA 80 million.

Concerning the CFA 80 million controversy, the President explained that the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education will only disburse the money for Françoise Mbango's training programme as the money was meant for that purpose. The President also used the occasion to announce that all athletes in the Diaspora who wish to compete for Cameroon in the international scene must qualify in the national championship.