By: Mohamed Abu Conteh
The current president of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association, Martin Momoh Bangura in an exclusive interview with this medium has shared some insights as to what has obtained since taking over the association and what needs to be done further.
The association has an office flat now which is unprecedented and according to him they plans to bring “unity among members in the association “. In the past, Sierra Leone Athletics Association has been marred by infighting, disagreements and divisions. But it appears a cool head in the person of Martin M. Bangura is now in charge. So far the general membership seems to be pleased with him and they appear to be on track with things.
He went further that there’s a short – term plan, a medium – term plan and a long – term plan. “There is considerable peace now in the association “, he told this medium.
And one of his main objectives is to make sure there is the presence of athletics “across the country….” That there are talents all over the country so going forward they are not only concentrating t in Freetown. A new region has been added which is the north – west so there has to be elections to get substantive officials in charge.
Martin M. Bangura acknowledges that our athletes have not been doing well at international competitions but so to tackle this he plans to “tap young talents and nurture them until they become professionals”. He is also calling on government to give athletics the attention that football is getting.
And that the Ministries of Basic, Senior Secondary Education and Higher and Technical Education to be giving scholarships to potential athletes so they get motivated to continue with the sport. The problem he realized was that our athletes are “not well catered for which is why they don’t perform well and always show tendencies to either switch allegiance or run away to other countries.”
He ended up that they are doing an in- house restructuring so that the association can be attractive to investors, sponsors and even government. And that he is ready to make sure that the association is put in order. He remains optimistic about the future of athletics as according to him the first international competition that Sierra Leone took part in under his watch in Zambia saw us bring home a silver medal. And it appears that government must do more for athletics to grow as a major sport.
