Sanbou was chosen for the role after passing a Referees Instructor and Refresher Clinic held in Tunisia in April.

He was unveiled at a special ceremony to mark his selection.

The Gambian scored an excellent result at the workshop, it has been revealed, and he will be tasked with increasing the amount of FIBA-accredited referees in the region in future.

“With the support of Gambian Basketball I need to come up with a referees training programme and conduct training for local referees and report back to FIBA," he said. "Based on those programmes and reports I will be evaluated and assigned to conduct training in other parts of Africa."

“Getting the accreditation is one thing but keeping it is another challenge as that will depend on performance at national level.”

President of Gambia Basketball Association (GBA) Muhamadou Papa Njie thanked the GOC for financing the trip to the North African nation, adding that their “objective as a National Association is to build capacity of its members”.

During the ceremony, GNOC vice-president Beatrice Allen, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee, reiterated the need for National Federations in the country to continue to implement programmes to aid their development.

Allen said GNOC will help these Federations with any initiatives, providing they base a key onus of any future schemes on capacity building within their organisation.

She also urged them to get involved with school programmes in order to identify future talent in order to keep the GNOC moving forward with their ambitions.

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