It is to take part in a sub-regional tournament in N’djamena.

Some 14 athletes of the taekwondo national selection leave the country today for Ndjamena-Chad to take part in a sub regional tournament dubbed N’djamena taekwondo tournament. The tournament will run from April 17^th to 21^st and will serve as additional preparation for Cameroon for the upcoming African Games in Tunis.

The team has been in a training camp since March 25 to prepare for the competition. The training camp ended on April 15 and the athletes had a day of rest yesterday before embarking on the journey to Ndjamena today. According to the Secretary General of the Cameroon Taekwondo federation, Nzeusseu Simo Jean Pierre, Cameroon’s ambition in the competition will be to topple Gabon and assume the leadership position in taekwondo in the central African sub region.

Some seven countries are expected to take part in the tournament comprising Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe as well as the host country, Chad. Gabon and the republic will be going in for the competition as favourites given that Gabon won the 2012 edition of the tournament in Yaounde while Congo won the hosted and won the last edition in 2013. Cameroon occupied an unenviable third position when they hosted the competition in 2012 winning only three medals; two gold and on silver.

There will be no respite for Cameroon after the Ndjamena tournament as they are scheduled to continue with the training camp this time to prepare for the African championship to take place from May 6^th to 8^th in Tunis. In order to improve on the performances of Cameroonian athletes, the federation recently organized a capacity building seminar for taekwondo coaches. The major handicap in the federation is the lack of financing says the president, Tchoquessi Edouard who says his ambition is to make the sport a household sports discipline in Cameroon.