Dakar, July 16 (APS) – The President of the Republic has made “in full responsibility” a proposal to postpone the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) scheduled for 2022 in Senegal to 2026, said Sports Minister Matar Ba , Thursday in Dakar.
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“This decision, which takes into account a number of parameters linked to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic situation, follows a proposal by the President of the Republic favorably received by Mr. Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), “said Ba on the sidelines of a press conference.
“It is therefore by mutual agreement, amicably and in full knowledge of the facts, that the government of Senegal and the IOC have decided to postpone in 2026 the YOGs planned for 2022 in Dakar,” he insisted. in the presence of the president of the organizing committee of this sporting event, Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye.
“By mutual agreement, Senegal and the International Olympic Committee have decided to postpone the 2022 Dakar Youth Olympic Games to 2026,” reads the website of the said sports organization.
He added that “President Macky Sall’s proposal (…) was favorably received by Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, after in-depth discussions on the subject”.
“This postponement meets the requirement of responsibility and the concern for efficiency demanded by current circumstances,” added the Olympic organization.
Matar Ba wanted to remind that the organizing committee of the Dakar YOG has been working on the preparations for the event since Senegal’s candidacy to host them was accepted in 2018, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He also welcomed the “timely collaboration” of the organizing committees of the YOG Dakar and the Paris Olympics in 2024.
This collaboration “has enabled Senegal to benefit from France’s expertise in the organization of world-class sporting events,” said Mr. Ba.
In addition, he continued, French employers and their Senegalese counterpart “set the tone for the mobilization of the national private sector [sénégalais] to accompany the event “, the YOG.
The Minister of Sports also recalls that the Senegalese president, Macky Sall, and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, current president of the African Union at the time, had talks in anticipation of the YOG.
The concertation between the two heads of state made it possible to “place the Dakar Youth Olympic Games in an African perspective, in accordance with the directives” of Mr. Sall, he said.
According to the president of the organizing committee of the YOG, the postponement of this sports meeting cannot be explained by a delay in the preparations. “On the contrary, we were ahead of the works,” said Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye.
“This postponement allows us (…) to run now a real program of preparation of young champions, future medalists, as I had to discuss with our Chinese partners during my visit to Beijing in December 2019”, a- he says.
Mr. Ndiaye was delighted with the work done for eighteen months by the organizing committee of the YOG in Dakar, under the coordination of Ibrahima Wade.
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