Two of the three Gambian participants; Sheikh Njie and Sulayman Norman on Thursday evening secured their first victories in the ongoing African Draughts Confederation Championship and Draughts World Cup qualifiers under way at Paradise Suites Hotel.

Sheikh Njie who, early Thursday, lost his third game to Alpha Youla of Guinea Conakry bounced back in the evening and collected his first victory of the tournament from Frank Zziwa of Uganda who, in the morning, defeated Abdou Ceesay of the Gambia.

Sulayman Norman, the national champion, also registered first victory when he outplayed Alexandre Nombre of Burkina Faso. Norman earlier on Thursday morning shared the spoils with Adama Kone of Burkina Faso before booking two points from Alexandre Nombre.

Both Sulayman Norman and Sheikh now secured four points from matches whilst their counter part Abdou Ceesay still struggles to collect maximum points.

Norman expressed profound delight about the victory. "We struggled to qualify for Sao Paulo. It is just that these people have more experience than us, but we can qualify for Brazil. He said that now that he has his victory ,he would avoid any defeats. "I don't want anyone to defeat me now. I either win or draw, but not to lose again.

For Sheik Njie, being the Gambia's representative, he would do every thing humanly possible to raise the national flag higher. Njie said that his match against Frank Zziwa was a tough game for him. He said he approached that game with caution and care because of his last defeat in the hands of Alpha Youba which he admits really hurt him.

Frank Zziwa of Uganda said his hopes almost dashed away by his defeat to Sheikh Njie. He said he was hoping to register another win, but things turned bad for him. "In draught, when you make a mistake, you will never recover again". So it's difficult now, he admitted.