2019 has come to an end, and Cameroon can count her achievements in the domain of sports.
2019 has been a year of diverse fortunes for Cameroon in the sporting domain as various sporting federations in the country had
something to ride home about be it in the local or international scene.
Football
In the footballing domain, Cameroon sent out over 3 representatives in a couple of competitions which were almost catastrophic.
The indomitable lions of Cameroon after haven prepared to play the AFCON in Cameroon in 2019 had to travel to Egypt who were
awarded the rights after they were stripped off it. That campaign didn’t go as planned as a lot was expected from the defending champions
under the stewardship of 2 of Europe’s greatest in Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivet as the lions were eliminated in the round of 16 by
arch-rivals Nigeria after struggling to leave the group stage. A campaign marked by lots of controversies that finally saw the immediate
sacking of the coaching staff 11 months into their 2-year contract which was signed with Antonio Concecao appointed a few months later to
head the indomitable lions.
Talking about appointments in 2019 Yves Clement Arroga was also brought in as the new boss of the intermediate lions almost 9 months
without a coach for this side and 7 months to the African Nations Championship to build a squad that will defend the colors of the nation
come April 2020.
As far as their female counterparts were concerned 2019 opened with a shock as coach Bryan Ndoko who had taken the lionesses to the
AFCON the previous year finishing 3rd and qualifying for the world expedition in France was sacked in favor of Alain Djeumfa barely 4
months to the world cup. The outcome of their world cup expedition was an emotional elimination in the hands of England in a round of 16
game where they lost 3 nil overshadowed by the video assistant referee and many emotions. They picked up themselves from there and
pushed further to qualify for the finals of the Olympic game qualifiers for the African zone giving them another fighting chance at the
international stage.
Under 17 Football Lions
The U17 Lions of Cameroon had probably the best performance in the continent winning the U17 African Cup Of Nations against Guinea on
penalties under former indomitable lions Thomas Libih who picked a couple of players from clubs around the country in the absence of a
youth league in the country to achieve this feat but the celebrations turned sour when they took to the world stage and were given a bitter
lesson losing all 3 group games to Tajikistan, Argentina, and Spain and as a consequence, the entire technical staff were shown the exit
door by the sport’s boss.
This exit was followed up by the Olympic lions who flopped their chance of playing the Olympic games as they were booted out in the
the group stage of the U23 AFCON in Egypt finishing 3rd in the group after 1 win 1 draw and 1 loss.
The unending battle between the Cameroon Football Federation FECAFOOT and the Cameroon Professional Football League could have
seen an end in 2019 as the president of the countries FA Seidou Mbombo Njoya dissolved the body in charge of local football in the
the country in favor of a Technical Transitional Committee headed by the federations vice president Alim Konate who has been in charge of
the local first and second division championships going into the new year despite several outings by General Pierre Semengue contesting
the decision to boot them out of work.
Basketball
In basketball, the biggest news of 2019 was Cameroon born Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam who won the accolade of Most
Improved Player at NBA Awards, defeating finalists D’Angelo Russell and De’Aaron Fox. He averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1
assists per game in 2018-19, helping lead Toronto to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. a fate which saw huge mobilization from
Cameroonians when the NBA star came visiting the country to celebrate the memory of his dad.
Volleyball
One domain that brought a lot of pride to the country was volleyball. The indomitable lionesses of volleyball emerged as African
champions in 2019 as they had to go pass eternal rivals Kenya to place themselves at the summit of African volleyball, while their male
counterparts, unfortunately, did their best in Tunis at the finals of the African Championship but succumbed to host nation Tunisia at the last
bout.
Cycling
It was probably not a year to ride home about for the cycling federation as the 2 major competitions which took place in Cameroon was
worn by foreigners with Bulgarian born cyclist Konstantinov Radoslav winning the 2019 International Cycling Tour of Cameroon while The
17th edition of the Chantal Biya International Cycling tour went home with Moroccan born Lahsaini Moushssine emerging the overall
winner on the general classification.
Boxing
and finally Seyi Wilfried The 21-year-old 2018 Common Wealth Games Middleweight boxing gold medalist won his first WBC youth
championship title in 2019, beating Canadian born Devin Tomko in a fight staged in November this year.
By John Paul Sama
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