The National Inter-Departmental Sports Association Thursday called on the Executive Committee of the Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia (SJAG) to brief them on the preparations for the upcoming July 22nd Regional Sports Championship to be hosted by Banjul.

The secretary general of NISA, Saikou B Jarju, Abdourahman Sanyang and public relations officer Pa Modou Faal met with the President of SJAG, Sainabou Kujabi-Njie; general secretary and his assistant, Abdoulie Bah; and Baboucarr Camara respectively at the offices of The Point Newspaper.

Addressing the meeting, Jarju said the main reason of the audience was to plead with the SJAG to help in setting up a media sub-committee that will take care of the media aspect of the competition that will hold from 21st-26th of July. He revealed that 14 regions from neighbouring Senegal have all confirmed their participation in the event and each region will come with a delegation of 50 participants which according to him will make up a total number of 700 participants that are expected to arrive for the event.

He said the visiting team will also come with a strong representation from the Senegalese journalists association from both the print and electronic media. He also revealed that RTS1 and 2STV have promised to arrive in the country after the Legislative Elections in the French speaking country to shoot some films as a prelude to the championship.

Gassama further revealed that they have worked with their Senegalese counterparts in the Federation of the Senegalese Workers Sports to make sure that the event is hosted by The Gambia and to coincide with the 18th edition of the July the 22nd anniversary. The organisers said that 10 sporting events will be in display for the championship while all the regions will join the rest of the country for the march past on the day of the celebrations.

Twelve out of the 14 regions from Senegal will join the four semi-finalists from the NISA football championship-Gambia Immigration Service, Gambia Armed Forces, Gambia Civil Aviation Authority Service and the Gambia National Petroleum Cooperation to compete in the 16-team football competition. All four Gambian teams will be seeded from groups A to D and the four companies according to Jarju have agreed to accommodate every three Senegalese teams in their group.

There will also be a marathon and Cycling race to be competed for by all 24 NISA Companies and the 14 visiting regional teams. The marathon will commence from the St. Peter’s School in Lamin to West Filed while the Cycling competition will begin from the Airport Junction to Kairaba Avenue.

A Volleyball competition will also be held with eight teams from Senegal and four from Gambia taking part. There will also be Draught, Scrabble in both English and French and Bulls which will be competed for by the Senegalese, and serve as a learning course for Gambians.

There will also be Lawn and Table Tennis and Ballot and if the Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia confirm their participation, they will be the eleventh event and will play a game with their Senegalese counterparts in a football match.