Major-General Langtombong Tamba, the first vice-president of The Gambia Football Association, has heaped praises on the main sponsors of the Gambia Under 17 team that won the nation's second CAF Under 17 title in the just concluded African Under 17 Championship hosted in Algeria.

Tamba, who doubles as The Gambia's army chief, said the team's rise to success in Algeria  could not have happened if not for the worthy and timely contributions of certain individuals and sponsors, including the vice-president and secretary of state for Women's Affairs, Dr Ajratou Isatou Njie-Saidy.

The GFA No 2 was speaking at a ceremony held at State House yesterday, where the sports-loving Gambian leader, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, disbursed over D29 million  to the Baby Scorpions as a reward for the the gold medal they clinched in the age-category competition. Supporting the Under 17 team, according to Major-General Tamba, is synonymous to contributing towards national development, hinting that the team's recent success has further exposed The Gambia to the wider world.

By winning the championship in Algeria, The Gambian youth team have also qualified for the FIFA Under 17 World Cup finals to be staged in Nigeria in October later this year. Expressing his delight at the Algeria success, Tamba insists the journey is yet to begin, as he  called on the proud sponsors to render more support ahead of the bigger tournament in the West African country - Nigeria.

"I wish to remind you that the journey has not yet started. We are all celebrating today because of the early preparations we had prior to the Algeria tournament and we should do the same ahead of the October World Cup in Nigeria," Tamba said.

"We thank you [sponsors] for your collaboration and valuable  support and we will continue to knock on your doors as we seek to scale new heights in national and continental football," he concluded.