Dar Es Salaam — PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has challenged Tanzania athletes for next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India to win medals, and should not come back with excuses for any failure.

The President made the remarks at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday when receiving the Queen's Baton relay.

He told the athletes that they should go to the games with a clear target of ten medals and if they fail they should come back with at least with five.

"Tanzanians are demanding this from you because the government has provided the associations with coaches", he said.

He observed that Tanzania has a history of performing well at Commonwealth Games, citing the success of legends like Filbert Bayi and the late middleweight pugilist Titus Simba but was concerned that in recent years the country has not impressed.

"We've the history of coming back with gold, bronze and silver medals and we had also set a new world record in 1500 metres -Bayi is the one who broke that record in 1974.

"This should be the challenge to all of us to make sure that we perform better than we've been performing in the previous games by winning medals and if possible come back with at least one world record. I know that is possible. If Bayi did that in 1974 we also can do the same in 2010. The best way to achieve this is by investing in training," he said.

He warned the athletes not to come back with excuses if they fail to perform well at the games. "We're used to have so many excuses when we lose. We normally complain that we didn't have enough time for training, or the refereeing was bad or the coach was not good enough."

The president urged the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) and sports associations lined up for the games to start preparations early so as to produce well-trained athletes.

The queen's baton relay was launched by the India High Commissioner to Tanzanian K.V. Bhagirath at the Uhuru Stadium and passed through various streets before arriving at the State House.

At the State House, Marry Naali who won silver at last year's Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India handed over the baton to the President.

"It's a great honour to receive this baton, it's the symbol that the games are very close," the President said while admiring the baton

The Queen's Baton Relay is to cover 71 countries in 340 days. It was first launched at the Buckingham Palace in London on October 29.

In another development, President Kikwete said he would hold talks with army officials to see how they can revive sports in armed forces.

He said that in the past, the army used to be vibrant institutions where the country's best athletes were produced.

He also reiterated that talks are underway with Jamaica to bring into the country experts who would train shot race runners.