THE Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) has set up plans aimed at ensuring the country's successful participation in international competitions during new year 2011.

 

According to the committee's 2011 calendar of events obtained by THISDAY last week, Tanzania will take part in two high profile tournaments under TOC's supervision this year.

 

The first is the 10th All-Africa Games to be held in Maputo, Mozambique, from September 3-18. 

 

The country will also send a team to the 4th Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in the Isle of Man from September 7-13. 

 

“TOC will supervise Tanzania's preparations for and participation in the two competitions,” TOC secretary general Filbert Bayi said.

 

“To ensure the country gets good results, we've arranged several meetings aimed at preparing our teams. The first meeting will be held in Dar es Salaam on February 19 to lay strategies for the All-Africa Games.” 

 

Bayi said the meeting would involve associations that will send teams to Maputo, TOC and the government.

 

Similar sessions will follow on May 8, June 4 and July 9 before the team assembles in camp for a month-long residential training on August 1. 

 

TOC has not yet earmarked teams for the Games last held in July 2007 in Algiers, Algeria, where 36 African countries competed in 24 events. 

 

Tanzania was represented by 23 players and eight officials who competed in athletics, boxing, judo, table tennis and disabled events, but won only one silver medal through Martin Sule in half marathon.

 

The Maputo Games will feature 23 sports, two of which will also feature disabled events (athletics and swimming). The Games are expected to be attended by 5,000 athletes and officials from 48 nations.

 

Bayi said a special Commonwealth Youth Games preparations committee will meet in Dar es Salaam twice -- March 5 and August 13.

 

The last Games were held in October 2008 in Pune, India, and attracted about 1,300 athletes and 350 officials from 71 nations. Tanzania managed only a bronze medal in women's 3,000 metres through Mary Naali. 

 

In order to avoid past mistakes, the TOC will on January 22 hold a postmortem of the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, India. 

 

Tanzania sent athletics, boxing, table tennis, swimming and disabled teams to the Games but returned home empty-handed.

 

Other postmortems are scheduled for November 5 and 12 for the All-Africa Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games respectively.

 

Bayi said they also intend to improve the standard of the local coaches, sports administrators and sports medicine doctors by conducting courses within and outside the country during the new year.

 

The first course will involve boxing coaches and will be held in Arusha from January 17-28. It will be followed by a table tennis coaching clinic set for March 7-18 in Dar es Salaam and a judo coaching course to be held in Zanzibar from October 19-30.

 

Sports administration courses will be held in Dar es Salaam from August 8-12 and in Zanzibar from September 19-23.

 

Tanzanian coaches and sports medicine doctors will also be sent abroad for training.

 

The coaching course will be held in Budapest, Hungary from March 13 to early June, while the sports medicine doctors will train in the Mediterranean island of Corsca from April 7-13.

 

The doctors course will run concurrently with an International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness to be held in Monaco from April 7-9.

 

Meanwhile, the new year will also see Tanzania hosting two maiden international tournaments to be organised by the Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT).

 

The competitions are the Julius Kambarage Nyerere Cup and the Great Lakes Championships, according to BFT secretary general Makore Mashaga. 

 

BFT intends to stage the Julius Kambarage Nyerere Cup in either Mwanza or Butiama in October to honour the Father of the Nation, who died in London, England, on October 14, 1999. 

 

The tournament will involve all frontline states that played a key role in the liberation of southern Africa. They include Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and hosts Tanzania.

 

Mashaga said the second competition is the Great Lakes Championships scheduled for November in either Dar es Salaam, Mwanza or Arusha. It will involve all countries in the region and other Africans nations with ports.