By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Chef de Mission for the National Olympics Committee (NOC) in Sierra Leone, Unisa Deen Kargbo, has said the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will pose a fresh funding challenge for sporting disciplines in the country.
Kargbo told Politico in an interview that government might have to pick up the burden and sponsor athletes for the games that will now be held in 2021.
On Tuesday, the International Olympics Committee unanimously decided to postpone the game to 2021 due to the global Coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the postponement, the game will still be held in Tokyo, Japan. Its signature name, Tokyo 2020, will also remain the same, despite the games holding in 2021.
Regarding the fresh funding constraints, Kargbo said: “This is the challenge now. Most of the international sporting associations fund sporting disciplines here by events that they have submitted in the year. Now the budget prepared will expire by the end of the year and by 2021 there is no telling whether they will provide funds for the Olympic games. So, a lot of the burden is going back to fall on the respective member governments.”
“Funding is very complicated,” he added.
Kargbo also said the decision to postpone the Olympics didn’t come as a surprise because the NOC and other committees around the world have all been in touch with the IOC.
Sporting disciplines in the country face challenges to get funding. Football is by far the most popular sport in the country and it gets the biggest funding, despite it being one of the least successful sports in the country.
Kargbo said nine sporting disciplines had registered to take part in next year’s games. The qualifiers for the games has also been postponed.
Swimming is the only sport from Sierra Leone among the nine that has booked its place for the global show piece in 2021.
The Secretary General of the sport’s association, Mohamed Abdul Turay, told Politico that though they are divested by the postponement, they understood the circumstances in which it was made.
“For us it is a big disappointment because we have been preparing for this and we have all been excited. But in as much as we are disappointed, but we know it is the right move,” Turay said.
Despite Kargbo’s concerns, Turay said he is optimistic that their annual funding will continue from their parent body, International Swimming Federation.
“All our fund raising activities are going on as normal. I am even working from home. We know we will have our funding. Our Olympic budget might not be affected,” he said.
He however admitted that the federation had invested a lot of money this year on training athletes in preparation for the games. Like most other federations, Swimming had also had to cancel international events.
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