The first edition of the national games for young athletes is being held from August 24 to September 2, 2023 in Bobo-Dioulasso. The start of the competitions took place on August 25 at the Regional Center for University Works. In the presence of the Minister of Sports, Youth and Employment, Boubakar Savadogo.
Nearly 2,000 athletes aged 13 to 15 from around a hundred public and private sports training centers in Burkina are taking part in this first edition of the national games for young athletes. Placed under the theme, “Contribution of young athletes to building a more resilient Burkina”, it aims to give competition to the young residents of the training centers in order to prepare the champions of tomorrow. For Abdallah Golo, Technical Secretary for the next generation of athletes, “these games constitute a framework of expression for the small categories of training structures in order to boost elite sport in our country”. “By offering competition to these young people in training in sports structures, the sports department wants to give them a better chance of success”, he added.
In his address, the minister in charge of sports, Boubakar Savadogo, citing in passing Hugues Fabrice Zango triple jump world championship, declared that the ambition of the government through these games is to ”manufacture” many sports celebrities like this one. “The national sports and leisure policy advocates the promotion of sport from an early age. This is why we are committed to training and detecting talent in order to be able to celebrate victories in the future like that of Hugues Fabrice Zango and other athletes”.
Addressing the athletes, Minister Boubakar Savadogo, while emphasizing the spirit that guided the organization of these games, indicated that in the long term, “It’s not about who won or who lost. It’s about promoting the spirit of sport that wants us to be together to defend our country. It’s about giving you the opportunity to express your talents; so make sure that in a few years we can say that these young people who are in the big stadiums, on the big tatami mats…, were discovered during the games for the next generation of athletes”.
In this dynamic, the minister announced that his department will soon issue a decree in the Council of Ministers to better organize sports training structures. “There are sports structures which have talents and which have difficulties in taking their talents abroad. We want to establish directories in order to better promote our youth to foreign actors and avoid loss.“, concluded the Minister in charge of sports.
Seven disciplines, namely football, basketball, handball, volleyball, athletics, traditional wrestling and cycling, are on the program of the national games for young athletes which take place in the form of a tournament. The competitions began with the symbolic kick-off of Minister Boubakar Savadogo in volleyball. This edition is placed under the high patronage of the President of the Transitional Legislative Assembly, represented by the deputy Daouda Diallo.
Ousmane TRAORE
