Athletics Tanzania (AT) secretary-general Suleiman Nyambui says the body is in deep trouble as its coffers are dry and cannot meet training costs for Olympic athletes.
Nyambui said the situation is "critical", adding that AT was desperately short of funds needed to establish a residential training camp.
"We are running out of time... lack of funds has been a stumbling block," he said. Nyambui said the athletes now had to train on their own as the possibility of setting up a residential camp looks to be a far-fetched option.
"We are bound to accept those who might meet the qualification standard out of their own initiative as the time remaining before the games open is limited."
The Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) will meet later this year with Government and sports associations' officials to deliberate on the games.Traditionally, local Olympians are supposed to be under the supervision of the TOC and the Government at least a month before their departure for the games.The Olympic Games get underway in Beijing from August 8 to 24.According to the training plan, the first phase of training was scheduled to start January 10 until March whereby about Sh36 million was needed for the camp.
The second phase of the camp is supposed to commence from April 15 to June 15 with an additional proposed budget of Sh17 million, while the third phase is set to take place between July 1 to early August with a budget of Sh18 million.Only four local marathoners have so far qualified.
They are Getuli Bayo, Dickson Marwa, Samson Ramadhani and Msenduki Mohammed.Apart from AT, the Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT), is also expected to send boxers to the games, but it too is short of funds
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