Rwandan athletics and cycling teams missed taking part in ‘Ascension de Mt. Cameroon’ and ‘Tour de Cameroon’ due to failure to get air tickets and fatigue respectively, Times Sport exclusively reveals. Both events started Sunday in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé and according to officials in the local athletics federation, the ‘Ascension of Mt. Cameroon’ event organizers, who are Cameroon Athletics Federation, invited and pledged to cater for air tickets, logistics, accommodation and the general welfare of the teams while in Cameroon. But in rather bizarre twist, the local athletics federation (RAF), having fully prepared the team and ready to compete, waited in vain for air tickets. Mr. Constance Twarigimana, Rwanda Athletics Federation Permanent Secretary revealed to Times Sport by telephone that the trip was off and expressed the federation’s disappointment that their Cameroon counterparts failed to live up to their word. “The Minister of Sports of Cameroon personally invited us and promised to send air tickets for six athletics and three officials. He also assured us that the Cameroonian federation would provide everything we needed while there. “We had actually hoped that this tournament would help our athletics to prepare for the IAAF World marathon in Amman, Jordan next month but now that has changed,” Twagirimana noted. He added, “We are very disappointed and more so our athletics took the news sadly. They think we (federation officials) had a hand in the saga.” Meanwhile, the cycling team didn’t make it to Cameroon for ‘Tour de Cameroon’ race because they only arrived in Kigali this week from Egypt from another competition. “Some of the boys had injuries while others were very tired to go straight away into another gruelling competition. This left us with no option but to pull out of that event, admitted Emmanuel Murenzi, the local cycling federation Secretary General. Ends
