World Draughts Championship - Cameroon Emerges Vice Champion

It has been a fruitful harvest for the Cameroon team at the World Draught Championship that just ended in Russia.

In the last round in Group A on June 19 in Ufa-Russia, Jean Marc Ndjofang beat Russian born Alexander Getmanski, to occupy the runner-up position behind Alexander Georgiev in the first position. Roel Boomstra from the Netherlands came third.

In group B, Thomy Mbongo recorded an equally impressive performance though it wasn't enough to enable him earn a place on the honour roll. He occupied the fourth position behind Ndiaga Samb from Senegal in the first position. Evgueni Watoetin of Belarus was second and Ainur Shaibakov from host country-Russia came third. The first had 12 out of 18 possible points and the following five players in a row all had 11 points each. The competition which lasted 18 days is described by pundits as one of the best in the history of draughts sports and one of the most exciting of the last two decades. Winners were awarded medals and trophies by the Minister of Youth Policy and Sports of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Andrei Ivanyuta and Deputy Head of Administration of the city of Ufa Ramil Dilmukhametov. The cash prize of the world championship amounts to some 3.850.000 Russian rubles, that is about FCFA 58.5 million.

Over 40 athletes from 24 countries took part in the competition which began on June 1st and ended on June 20th. The Cameroonian ambassadors to the competition were Mbongo Thomy Lucien, Jean Marc Ndjofang and Tamga Emmanuel who all appeared on the honour roll during the last African championship. According to the national technical director, Eloka Epoda Luc, the performance of the Cameroonians is no surprise given that they have once been third at the World Cup and trained very hard for the competition though with meagre resources. Their preparation was cut from 21 to 10 days due to lack of financial resources by the federation which is surviving only from the contributions of members. The president of the federation, Claude Ngondiep who also accompanied the athletes, prior to his departure said the new season of the federation will be opened upon their return after the first board meeting which will take place on June 25. Meanwhile regional leagues have already begun their activities while waiting for the official opening of the season.