Last week saw the Sal 2019 Organising Commission of the first African Beach Games (COJAP) in the presence of José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, prime minister of the Republic of Cabo Verde, hold a fun-packed day to celebrate one year until the island of Sal welcomes the best African athletes to its shores for the 1st African Beach Games.
Thursday’s celebrations began with over 150 children taking part in sports and dance demonstrations to display the best of Cabo Verdean dance and music and to provide a glimpse of some of the sports scheduled to take place during the Games in a years’ time.
The Sal 2019 mascot, Kretxeu, (pronounced ‘Kretcho’ in the local Creole dialect and meaning ‘loved one’) made a surprise appearance. The children and the gathered crowd rushed to the seashore to greet the mascot as he arrived by boat.
Kretxeu – a loggerhead turtle, which Cabo Verde is famous for and has recently been protected by law – joined in the fun and games and showed off his spectacular dance moves.
Following the activities at the beach, the CEO of the organising committee Yann Craven presented an overview of the plans for the Games to members of government, prominent local and international business leaders and the media.
During the presentation, the sport programme for the Sal 2019 African Beach Games was unveiled.
Eleven sports have been determined to take place in four arenas over nine days of competition including beach soccer, beach handball, beach volleyball, beach tennis, 3×3 basketball, karate kata, freestyle football, kiteboarding, coastal rowing, open water swimming and athletics.
The acting president of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) Mustapha Berraf made a brief speech expressing his happiness with the preparations for the Games at this stage.
The event concluded with a closing speech by the prime minister, reiterating his and the government’s full support for the Games and highlighting the importance that they hold for Cabo Verde.