AFTER comfortably registering a dominant 4-0 rout of the luckless Burundian side Vital’O in the first leg of their CAF Champions League’s First Preliminary Round tie a tad over a week ago, many Young Africans’ supporters likely believed that the second leg would be plain sailing for their beloved football outfit.

Despite the bullishness of the Young Africans fan base, the Jangwani Street club produced such an unexpectedly impressive tour de force in the second leg against Vital’O that went far beyond the expectations of the club’s army of supporters.

Indeed, in the second leg, the Tanzanian champions surprisingly emerged as 6-0 winners to clinch the tie by a whopping 10-0 on aggregate.

Doubtlessly, the fabulous triumph has strengthened the hopes of all ardent Young Africans devotees that their club will be able to overcome all teams, including the big guns en route to making a deep run in continental football’s top-tier championship.

Still, well before that happens, Young Africans will have to negotiate their way through the 2nd preliminary round first leg tie of the CAF Champions League where they will face off against the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, which promises to be quite a fascinating affair.

It should be noted that while exuberance presently reigns supreme among the Young Africans faithful, a mood of despondency has settled over Azam FC fans following their team’s slim 2-1 loss on aggregate to Rwandan juggernauts APR FC.

Indeed, the demoralizing defeat in the first preliminary round saw Azam FC come a-cropper and exit the CAF Champions League almost as hastily as their campaign in the revered football championship had started.

Consequently, this then means that Young Africans are our country’s lone representatives in the CAF Champions League and it is hoped that the Jangwani Street-based club can deliver the goods in truly dazzling style.

Dear Reader, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this writer would like to revisit our meltdown at the Paris Olympics earlier this year for seemingly the umpteenth time.

For those who have been dwelling under a large boulder for the last several weeks and are in the dark as a result, our national contingent to the quadrennial, entertaining multi-sport spectacle returned home from the games utterly bereft of even a single medal.

Ever since the Paris Olympics wrapped up a few weeks ago, there have been some noteworthy suggestions that have emerged from the Post-Olympics analysis of our unquestionably dismal overall performance at the mega sporting event.

Indeed, one such helpful suggestion came from the talented marathoner, Alphonce Simbu, who remarked that it was high time for our sports fraternity to focus on a broader range of sports and not just restrict ourselves to the same handful of sports when it comes to partaking in the Olympic Games.

To be candid, an assessment of Simbu’s suggestion will reveal that it is right on the money.

It is an irrefutable fact that once-popular sports like table-tennis, squash and handball have been grossly neglected and as a result, have now become alarmingly stagnant.

It is hoped then that our sports administrators will swiftly see the error of their ways and furthermore, that they will move expeditiously to revive the aforementioned sports that have been in the doldrums for some time now.