ACTUALITE |
04.12.2003
Military Games : What Chances for Cameroon?
Cameroon’s 24 athletes will be vying for medals in three disciplines.
"You have come to Catania not simply to participate, but to win. This means you have to put in your best so as to lift the country to glory. Go for nothing but gold". This is the last instruction from the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence, Jean Marie Aleokol, to the 24 Cameroonian soldiers who begin defending the national colours today at the 3rd Military World Games. Jean Marie Aleokol, who is heading a 40-man official delegation to Catania, said the athletes should put in their best so as not to dampen the good image which Cameroon has built over the years through spectacular performances at international sports competitions.
Cameroon’s 24 athletes will be vying for medals in three of the 13 disciplines at the Games. These are: volleyball, Judo and track and field events. The choice of these three disciplines was based on the performance of their athletes at national and international competitions. The FAP men’s Volleyball team, for example, is the best in Africa. In effect, they picked their qualification during the last African Military Games where they won the gold medal.
The Judokas on the other hand have also left their mark at the international scene. According to the Director of Military Sports, Colonel Cho Tilong, the seven athletes selected have been bagging home nothing but gold in all the international competitions which they have taken part in. The same story holds for the four soldiers involved in track and field events.
Added to these natural assets of the Cameroonian team is the fact that government has put all the technical and material needs to ensure that the athletes prepare properly for the competition. Since January 2003, all the athletes who were short-listed for the 3rd Military World Games have been doing nothing but prepare for the event. They were liberated from all other tasks by their bosses. The training was intense and in various phases: the last phase took place last week in Paris, France. It permitted the athletes to adapt to the prevailing climate in Europe and acquaint themselves with the international sports infrastructure. As of yesterday afternoon, all the athletes were in top for, and bustling with energy: they all had just one ambition: be the best. They were confident of their potentials and noted that they were not afraid of any delegation.
The confidence of these athletes partly comes from the warm manner in which the Cameroonian sports delegation was received last Tuesday in Catania. The 122 other delegations were eager to know the disciplines in which Cameroon will be participating. News of Cameroon’s absence in football was received with smiles. The exploits of the country in this discipline can best explain this reaction. To the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence, the country could not send in a football team that would not defend the country honourably. "Cameroon is known world wide because of the mark which it has left on the global soccer scene. We don’t have a good military football team now. That is why we decided to stay off the discipline", he noted.
This option for going in just for disciplines in which the country can grab medals also explains the absence of female athletes from the delegation. "The only criteria for selection were good performance. The out put of our military ladies does not permit us to take them to such high profile competitions. We are still trying to bring them up to the level of international competition", Colonel Cho Tilong explained.
These facts give us enough reason to hope that Cameroon will make its voice heard at the 3rd Military World Games.
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