Holden made the claims after an 11-day visit to Tanzania as an expert responsible for the development for African nations.

He delivered a training course at the Dar es Salaam Yatch Club, which was attended by 12 coaches from across the country, with the cities of Tanga, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Arusha all represented.

After the course, Holden claimed that sailors need to be given proper training venues such as beach areas and modern facilities to help them compete at the highest level.

A lack of professional boats for sailing in the country has forced sailors to make do with use locally made crafts.

"Sailing is a traditional-European sport, which is now popular in a few African countries like Egypt and South Africa," said Holden.

"Tanzania needs to have a special allocated beach areas for promoting the sport and ISAF will look into how it can offer help in terms of equipment and expertise.”

The course had been made possible by funding from Olympic Solidarity in collaboration with the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC).

It was the first time a sailing course had been held in the country, with TOC secretary general Filbert Bayi claiming that it would begin a new era in country, while promised similar events for other sports.

"We have already organised several courses of this kind for different sporting associations to promote sports development," he said.