The first edition of the late Fatou Mbye Memorial Tournament organised by the Sports Journalist Association of the Gambia kicked-off last Friday, at the SerreKunda East Mini-stadium and West, respectively.
The opening match at the East Mini-stadium between the sports journalist and the Ministry of Youth and Sports was a very interesting encounter. The Ministry’s team during the first half with the likes of Abdul Aziz Titao Mendy and the Director of Youth and Sports Malang Jassey tried to use their experience on the pen pushers and broadcasters, but the young talented sports journalists team did to give them the chance to survive.
The ministry's team during the 20 minutes of the game could not contain the pressure mounted on them by the journalists and the 22nd minutes of the game through a cross from the Point Sport desk Lamin Drammeh, Babucarr Sey of the Paradise FM headed the ball and netted the sport officials.
During the second half, the journalists in the early minutes of the encounter were awarded a penalty, which was taken by Lamin Drammeh, who squandered the penalty, thanks to a good safe from Fofana, the ministry's goalkeeper.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Mambanyick Njie who played only five minutes due to the lack of fitness missed a golden opportunity for his team, which could have levelled the scores for his team.
At the end of the day, the sports journalists emerged victorious.
In another development in Serekunda West in the male category, Youth Ambassadors of Peace defeated Gambia Football Coaches Association I-0 and for the female category, KMC defeated Jam City by 2-0
Speaking to reporters shortly after the match, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Mambanyick Njie commended the journalist team for the victory, adding that there is no winner or loser. He noted that the principle objective of the tournament is to remember late Fatou Mbye, who has contributed all her life towards youth and sport development in the country.
He thanked the sports journalists for coming up with such a laudable initiative by staging a tournament for her. "We at the ministry has really welcomed this development and we will continue to support the initiative," he added.
For his part, the coach of the sports journalists Dodou Bojang thanked his team for the good team sprit, and urged them to be better prepared for the final.
The final will be played on Friday 26 February 2010, at the Serrekunda East Mini-stadium. For the female category, Interior FC will meet KMC at 3pm, while the male final would be played between sports journalist team and Youth Ambassadors of Peace.
