By Mohamed Foday Conteh
The Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh has said that the national football team, Leone Stars fought hard in Guinea amidst a row over COVID-19 test results.
The Minister made this statement while addressing the press corps in the weekly press briefing at the Ministry of Information and Communication at Youyi Building in Freetown, on Thursday 24 June 2021.
Nyelenkeh said that the difficulties they encountered at the Sierra Leone-Guinea border were just the tip of the iceberg and that they went on to encounter more issues at their hotel in Conakry.
“Francophone countries like to act in uniformity,” the Minister said. He claimed the Guineans reserved the hotel for the Beninese even though they had already booked the place.
With regards to preparation for the African Cup of Nations (AfCON) in Cameroon, the Minister said that the team is on preparation and disclosed that his Ministry and the National Sports Authority (NSA) will form a committee to oversee proper preparations for the AfCON. The Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, Solomon Jamiru, said that he believes Leone Stars are going to perform in Cameroon.
The Minister acknowledged the importance of football philanthropists like Mohamed Kallon and Babadi Kamara among others for their moral support.
Some members of the public are of the notion that the revamp of the local league is a factor that propelled Sierra Leone’s qualification for AfCON after 25 years of absence from the continent’s most celebrated national football tournament. The Minister acknowledged that the Sierra Leone Premier League is important. “It was the most-watched local league in Africa after its resumption,” the Minister said.
However, with the country witnessing the third wave of COVID-19, an indefinite hiatus has been placed on the league after teams refused to play behind closed doors. Premier League teams generate the bulk of their income from gate-takings and they believe playing without spectators will result in losses for their teams.
Responding to allegations from the public that the Ministry of Sport is spending more funds on football, the Minister said that most sporting disciplines failed to submit their programmes late and didn’t comply with directives. “I can tell you that for football they send their programme of events and budget 4 months ahead,” the Minister said
He commended other sporting disciplines like Cricket, Athletics, and Volleyball for bringing in laurels to the country. He said that the cricket team participated in South Africa and Botswana returning home with 8 gold medals and 4 trophies. He also said that the Volleyball team also qualified for the World Championship but were denied visa by the German Embassy in Ghana.
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