In a ceremony held at the GNOC headquarters in Olympic House in Bakau, equipment was distributed to the associations responsible for athletics, basketball, handball and volleyball.

This included three sets of nets and posts for volleyball and handball, three sets of poles, rings and nets for basketball, as well as high jump landing mats, starting blocks for sprinters, and a shot put, hammer and javelin stand.

This followed the grant received from the Japanese in March, which was signed by Shigeru Kondo, its Consular at its Senegal Embassy and Alhaji Momodou Dibba, President of the GNOC.

"I must say here that this is just the first stage, now we are very fortunate that we followed this up and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) was able to transmit almost over GMD D4,803,000 (£70,000/$97,400/ €90,100) for the purpose of providing this equipment for our national sports associations, especially Olympic sports," said Dibba.

"We implore on you to ensure that these equipment are put to good use because they are very expensive and we have asked the supplier to give us the best quality of equipment."

The official then explained that certain sports had been earmarked as being most in need of the equipment, which belong to the relevant association rather than an individual.

The announcement comes after a year dominated by a dispute between the Gambian Government and GNOC, which included the closure of the GNOC headquarters ©GNOC



This comes at a key time for the GNOC three months after Olympic House was reopened following lengthy disputes with the Government of the West African nation.

After being closed in April, the House was re-opened briefly in August but the Government continued to control who was allowed to enter the building.

This led to a meeting in Lausanne, where International Olympic Committee autonomy tsar Patrick Hickey ordered Government officials to reopen the House, revoke a travel ban on GNOC staff, and formally recognise Dibba as GNOC President.

With action having been belatedly taken, and NOC autonomy having seemingly been restored, focus will now turn back to a sporting perspective, with the announcement of the new equipment a key boost.

The nation is striving to send a larger team to Rio 2016 than the one which competed at London 2012, where only sprinters Suwaibou Sanneh and Saruba Colley participated.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
October 2014: Gambia avoid Olympic suspension after headquarters re-opened
October 2014: Exclusive: Leading Gambian sports official slams "dictatorial" IOC interference in country
October 2014: Gambia facing suspension from International Olympic Committee
September 2014: IOC warn Gambia to restore access to Olympic headquarters or face consequences
March 2014: Japan sign grant agreement to help youth sports development in The Gambia