No Medal for Gambia Armed Forces Athletes in Rio World Games

Gold, Silver and Bronze medal to be awarded in the Peace Games The

The three Gambian Armed Forces Athletes that left Banjul two weeks ago for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to take part in the 5th World Military Games (5MWG) will return home on Tuesday without a single medal.

The athletes that competed in the championship are Suleyman Njie (100 and 200m runner), Dawda ML Ceesay (1500 and 5000m runner) and Lamin Darboe  (100 and 200m).

IN THE 100M RACE

Lamin Darboe was eliminated in the semi finals of the 100m after finishing 4^th position in the heat 3 with time of 10.98 seconds on Wednesday.

 Lamin Darboe made it to the semi finals on Tuesday after finishing 3^rd in the heat four with an encouraging timing of 10.92 seconds, but failed to repeat his performance in the semi finals against most experience competitors such as Nigeria-born Qatari sprinter Femi Seun Ogunode, Italian Emanuele Di Gregoria and the well supported Brazilian Andre Nilson.

For  Suleyman Njie ,  the another Gambian athletes that competed in the 100m,  failed to qualify to the semi finals of the 100m on Tuesday  after finishing 5^th position  with a timing of 11.82 seconds.

IN THE 200 M RACE

It was another disappointing outing for Lamin Darboe and Suleyman Njie on Friday in the 200m as both failed to cross the first round of the competition.

Suleyman Njie, who first raced in the heat one, finished 4^th position with a time of 23.26 and could make it the semi finals.

It was more complicated for Lamin Darboe, who after finishing 3^rd position in the heat six which would have put him into the semi finals, was disqualified by the jury  for violating rule 163(3B) of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).

IN 5000M RACE

On  Thursday morning, it was another heat breaking  news for Gambia contingent to Rio as  Dawda ML Ceesay also failed to progress to the finals  of the 5000m after finishing 14 position  out of 17 competitors  with a timing of  16.15 minutes.

IN THE 1500M RACE

Three hours after competing in the 5000m, Dawda ML Ceesay returned on the tracks to compete in the 1500m but it was a same story as he finished 6^th position with a timing of 4.10 minutes and could not get the requirements to advance to the next stage.

 Meanwhile the Gambian delegation led by Lt Col Kawsu Sanyang will leave Rio de Janeiro on Monday July 25 at 19.00 to Banjul via Algeria, Bamako.

• Author: Namory Trawally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil