Mbango Wins at Dakar Athletics Competition (06.04.2004)
Françoise Mbango did honour to Cameroon when she dominated the long jump event at the International Athletics Meeting in Dakar last Saturday.
The annual Dakar International Athletics meeting took place last Saturday, April 03 at the Leopold Senghor stadium. The Dakar meet, which is traditionally part of the festivities marking the celebration of Senegal’s independence day on 4th April, this year marked the start of the African Athletics Confederation’s 2004 circuit of events. It was attended by several renowned athletes this year. Present were 2002 World Cup 100m winner, Uchenna Emedolu, 2001 400m World champion and a recent bronze medallist at the World championships in Paris, Amy Mbacke Thiam, among others.
A number of good performances were achieved including a 45.29 seconds run by Zimbabwe’s
TalkmoreNyongani who improved by one hundredth of a second the current world’s 400m lastest time of the year. Cameroon had its share of wins in Dakar. Triple Jump African record holder and World Championships silver medallist, Francoise Mbango, dominated her event with a 14.17m leap. Her two runners up were Romanian-born Mariana Solomon (13.50m ) and the Moroccan Latifa Ezzaraoui (13.40m). Francoise Mbango received her trophy from the Senegalese Sports Minister, Youssou Ndiaye. Hortense Bewouda also made her presence felt in the women’s 400m event. She finished the distance in 51.95 seconds to grab the silver medal in the event.
The International meeting of Dakar was honoured by the presence of IAAF President Lamine Diack, AAC President Hamad Kalkaba and of the President of the National Assembly of Senegal among many other guests.
