On the track: 3rd Athletics National Meeting Ends in Douala

The third athletics national meeting took place in Douala on March 27 and 28 at the annex Number 2 of the Japoma sports complex, with Billy Takougoum picking up a qualification ticket for the upcoming African games in Algeria. He obtained the qualification ticket in shot put, throwing a distance of 16.80m. The competition saw the participation of more than 300 athletes from all 17 athletics clubs in the country. “We were forced to split the athletes in little groups because of the massive participation so as to respect the Minister’s instruction not to have more 50 athletes on the same spot at the same time”, said the National Technical Director for athletics, Michel Nkollo. The organisation of competitions in close succession is to enable the athletes to prepare both for the African championship and the Olympic Games. More so, the organisation of the competition on the fast track of Japoma has led to an increase in the performance of athletes and expressed optimism that more athletes will qualify for the international competitions during the next athletic meeting in Yaounde in three weeks.

So far, only three Cameroonian athletes have qualified for the Olympics namely; Emmanuel Eseme who qualified in the 100m race, Raphael Ngaguele in the 200m race and Nora Atim in discus throw.

Raphael Ngaguele’s qualification however still hangs on the balance, awaiting validation by World Athletics given that he broke the 200m record in the process and there is a pro...