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Cameroon Trails France, Morocco…with 12 Medals (06.10.2009)
CHOVES LOH
The football and basketball squads were major disappointment at the Games.
Cameroon’s athletes officially end participation at the 6th Francophonie Games today in Beirut, Lebanon with 12 medals ( 02 gold, 02 silver, 08 bronze). Forty two countries marched past on day one of the Games which wrap up with French athletes exercising a domineering attitude. At Press time France was topping the charts with about 46 medals ( 23 gold, 8 silver, 16 bronze) ahead of Morocco with 47 medals, 13 in gold, 19 silver and 15 bronze. Twenty four hours to the official closing ceremony in the Beirut neighborhood of Biel, Cameroon featured among the top ten medalists with 12 medals. Cameroon’s 111 athletes and artists in Beirut have improved on their outing at the 5th Games in Niamey, Niger but failed to beat their own performance at the 3rd outing in Madagascar in 1997. Some also failed to rise to expectation against talents from France, Morocco, Romania, Canada etc in Beirut. France which traveled to Lebanon with 200 athletes emerged victorious in most of the 12 sport and cultural disciplines available for competition. France grabbed virtually everything in Judo and sang home with eight of the total medals in gold.
Athletics and boxing gave Cameroon rare moments to mount the podium for gold with Hugo Lucien Mamba finishing first in the men’s triple jump while Joseph Mulema boxed his Moroccan opponent to submission at the finals of the 69 kg category. Dieudonne Dolassem and Kareyce Fotso lifted silver in Judo and song competitions. Other courageous efforts by the nation’s athletes fetched eight bronze medals thanks to Frank Moussima, Christelle Okodombe and Felicite Ntsama Mballa in Judo, Donfack Adjoufack Christian in boxing, Jean Faustin Amougou in sculpture, Carole Kaboud , women’s 400m hurdles , women’s 4x 100m relay and Ngono Etoundi Theresse in women’s 5000m.
In all, “Team Cameroon” prepares to retire from Beirut with better results than in their participation at the 5th Games in Niamey but poorer
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in performance than in their outing for the 3rd Games in Madagascar. The Madagascar Games offered Cameroon their best chances in the history of the competition with 15 medals (3 gold, 4 silver, 08 bronze). This time around, the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Michel Zoah set the yardstick beyond mere participation. Ahead of the Games in Beirut, he urged the athletes to rise to expectation and beat results obtained in Madagascar. He had enough to show in mobilization, encouragements and motivation by the government to enable the athletes shine with appreciable amounts coughed out to reward medalists. Participation fees, Olympic and training bonuses were available for all athletes as they camped in some of the best sport training centers of the world ahead of the Games in Beirut. From the look of things, the government was at its best in preparing success for Cameroon’s athletes at the 6th Francophonie Games. This was summed up by Minister Michel Zoah who told the delegation in Beirut that about CFA 1 billion was coughed out by the Government to give the nation’s athletes a chance at the Games.
In effect, overall results registered in the Beirut Games are appreciable and could have been improved. Feared by virtually all opponents, Cameroon’s U-20 football team was a disappointment. They suffered an early elimination in round one after one victory against Rwanda and lost to Canada when least expected. Another major disappointment was the women’s basketball team that ended last in the overall classification without any victory. In short, team sports failed Cameroon woefully. The history of the Games revealed that Cameroon’s athletes retired from the first ever Francophonie Games in 1989 in Morocco without a medal, two bronze medals from the second edition in France, 15 medals at the 1997 Games in Madagascar, ten from the 2001 edition in Canada and barely four from the 5th edition in Niamey, Niger in 2005. The 6th edition in Beirut promoted culture and celebrated solidarity among French speaking countries of the world.
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