The former Gambia Under 17 and Steve Biko striker, Kawsu Jatta, left the soccer podium on Sunday, April 12, after protracted heart problems.

The 16-year-old striker from Bakoteh, at the time of his death, was a regular for the Gambia Football Association First Division League side, Steve Biko FC. He was also a member of the Gambia Under 17 team during the qualifying series of the 2009 African Under 17 Championship finals, which the Baby Scorpions eventually won in Algeria.

The talented forward had once lost consciousness at the Baby Scorpions training session at the Independence Stadium. A test conducted by the team doctors afterwards revealed the player had heart problems hence his release from the U-17 squad just a few weeks before their departure for the Egypt training camp.

The industrious forward however, went ahead to make rare apperances for Steve Biko - his final appearance in the club’s colour being Biko’s goalless draw  against Sea View in the first round fixtures of the First Division League. "He was an exceptionally talented kid," Kemo Ceesay, a senior official of Steve Biko FC told Observer Sports yesterday. “He was a self-motivated kid who had an inner-confidence about himself. His death is a big  loss for not only Steve Biko Football Club but also the Gambian sports fraternity." “He died at a time when he was just about to try out his luck in Europe.” “Arrangements were underway for him [Jatta] to go for a trial in Belgium next month, but unfortunately things happened this way and we are very shocked about it,” visibly-disturbed Ceesay concluded.

The first vice-president of the Gambia Football Association, Major-General Langtombong Tamba, players and officials of Steve Biko and the Gambia Under 17 team were among thousands of  mourners who converged at the deceased’s Bakoteh residence on Sunday to pay their respects to the player who had been regarded by all as talented and discipline.