The 15 month-long Olympic Solidarity-funded Advanced Sports Management Course “ASMC” has successfully come to an end during a colorful conclusion ceremony held at the Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu on Thursday morning.

During the ceremony 19 participants from national federations and universities were certified for their commitment and dedication during the course. Somali NOC said that 20 persons first sat for the course but unfortunately one of them died while the rest 19 completed it successfully.

Somali Olympic committee Secretary General Abdullahi Ahmed Tarabi who first addressed at the closing ceremony of the course said that the course was the first of its kind ever held in Somalia and will help the smooth going of the activities relating to the management and good governance in sport across the country.

“For the past two decades Somali sports was going with that in the developed nations in terms of transparence and good governance, but now we hope to develop more since we have had this successful course” the Somali NOC secretary General told the closing ceremony, before handing the microphage to the NOC president Duran Ahmed Farah.

The president said that Somali NOC and the international Olympic committee had spent all they could to implement a successful advanced sports management course in Somalia, adding that more other courses will be held in regions across the country.

“The successful end to the course shows that we have achieved some of our dreams–the holding of this course was part of our strategy plan for 2011-2014 and that is why I am saying we achieved some of our important goals” Somali National Olympic committee president Duran Ahmed Farah told during his closing speech.

“We have traveled on a very long road, because for the past several years Somali NOC sent experts to international level sports management courses and instead of calling foreign instructors we have Abdirashid Hajji Nur and Mohamed Ahmed Tarabi who facilitated the course” the Somali NOC President noted.

The president said that he was very grateful to the international Olympic committee and the Olympic solidarity for their moral and financial support that helped the promotion of sport in Somalia during the past two decades of lack of a functioning central government in the country which had under gone one of the world’s most devastative wars.

“We want you to convey what you have learned from here to the other colleagues who didn’t get such golden chance you have had” President Duran Ahmed Farah told the trainees.

Somali minister for labor, social affairs, youth and sport Mahmoud Jirde Hussein thanked Somali Olympic committee and its affiliated federations for the widespread job they have been doing in the country, saying that history will always be mentioning the flag carriers of Somali sport of whom so many of them were killed during their duties.

“I here by declare that the ministry of sport is always with Somali NOC and I pledge here in front of you that the ministry will do all it can to help the development of our sport” he said adding that his ministry will give a particular consideration to the rebuilding of the country’s destroyed facilities some of them visited Wednesday.