A few days ago, the newly appointed Chef De Mission for the Sierra Leone National Olympic Committee Yayah Koroma updated coaches and technical heads on the system of the Olympic Games qualifiers at the OlymAfrica Center at Goderich in Freetown.
In his statement, he said he has already asked the various sports to send their e-mail address to him for the qualifier updates.
He advised them to be taking part in the international competition as even if they did not qualify the committee will look into their participation to give them wild card qualification. He went on that they should not relax because they are not sure of qualifying as when the time comes for the universal qualification in November 2023 for the France 2024 Olympic Games, they will be giving the names of those who have been taking part in international competitions.
He told them about the two qualifications which are the Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago and the France 2024 Olympic Games.
Yayah said he has been in communication with the Games committee and he has also shared the conversation with the various associations through their e-mails.
He went on that the deadline for the Badminton sports games competition will be at the end of June 2023. Updating them on the Berlin World Beach Games qualification, he said the deadline date for Air Badminton and the Beach Handball is on the 30th of June 2023, Beach Volleyball is 2nd May 2023, Beach Water Polo on the 22nd May 2023, Karate on 29th of May 2023, Beach Soccer 5th June 2023 and Beach Tennis is on the 2nd July 2023.
He told them that they still have ample time to compete and qualify for the World Beach Games in Berlin. Yayah went on that he will soon start to do the input for the Olympic Games in France. Because of this, he has contacted various sports to give names for input.
He went on that he will carry on with the input and if they did not qualify, he will cancel them. In this case, he asked them to give information about their athletes and their passport details. For the registration of the Beach Games, he said he will be sending the registration forms to all the sports. He warned them that the Olympic Games are strictly on qualification. The Olympic Games will start on July 26th – 11th August 2023. He told them that he has been engaging the organizers and that they have an issue with the registration forms which he said he will be discussing with the NOC executive.
At the end of his speech, he asked all how far they have gone with the preparation for the Olympic qualifiers. Also, at the presentation were the NOC President Prince Sualley, Joseph Nyande NOC CEO, Project Manager Bai who also gave their own contributions and advice.
