The congress of the Association of International Sports Press AIPS African chapter, opens in Banjul on Friday at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre under the chief patronage of President Adama Barrow.
This is the biggest and most important gathering of sports journalists on the continent, representing their national sports journalists bodies.
It will also be attended by Giani Merlo, president of the global AIPS body.
The Banjul meeting is hosted in collaboration with the Gambia sports journalists’ body, the SJAG.
The opening ceremony will feature speeches by the president of the SJAG Omar Jarju, the president of the AIPS –Africa Abdoulaye Thiam, the ministers of Sports and that of Information Bakary Badjie and Dr Ismalia Ceesay, respectively before President Barrow takes the podium with the keynote address.
The programme rolls on with a discussion session on ”Olympism In the Digital Age,” focusing on the Dakar 2025 youth Olympic games. Another session, ”The Impact of Digital Transformation on Sports Reporting,” will be held to close Day One.Â
Saturday’s sessions starts with ”Investigative Sports Journalism”, and continues with another one, ‘Improving Coverage of Women’s Sports.; Basketball in Africa, and Empowering African Narratives”.
 On the final day, Sunday, delegates will deliberate on ”The current state of African Football – Leveraging Africa’s Potential‘, ”.
There will also be a ‘Heroes Corner’, an interactive session with Gambian sport legends as well as a session dedicated to remembering the fallen colleagues in the sports press. The meeting will be coordinated by AIPS- Africa secretary general Musa Sise.
