Preparations for Dixiades Intensify

The draws for the competition were done yesterday at the seat of Olympic Committee in Yaounde.

Preparations for the third edition of the national games christened DIXIADES, have hit a higher hear one month to the kick-off of the competition. The draws for the competition were made yesterday at the headquarters of the National Olympic and Sports Committee in Yaounde. Presiding over the ceremony, the first vice president of the Olympic committee and general coordinator of the games, Minister Gregoire Owona said preparations were going on according to plan with the successful holding of the Douala cross country. He disclosed that more powers have been devolved on the local organization committee to ease the organization of the event.

He said emphasis this year will be on training of the members of the local organization committee so that DIXIADEs should become a reference in the organization of sports events in the country. Efforts, he said will be made to develop the sports infrastructure within the limited financial means of the movement. Measures will also be taken to avoid doping in the games and fraudulent activities such as impersonation, changing the ages of athletes and partiality in refereeing. The overall objective of the Olympic movement in the games is to detect and follow-up the preparation of athletes for the next Olympic Games in 2016.

Hence the competition will be limited to athletes between the ages of 17 and 23. The competition format in collective sports disciplines has also changed as there will be no semifinals. The competition will be in the league system with the first two of any group qualifying directly for the finals while the runners-up clash for the third position. Ten sports disciplines have retained for the competition namely; athletics, basketball, boxing, cycling, football (both men and women), weightlifting, handball, judo, wrestling, table tennis and volleyball. The games begin on December 17.