As rowing backwaters go, Niger has to be right up there. Tap water is not exactly easy to find in the Sahara, never mind state-of-the-art lakes. Hence the acclaim for Hamadou Djibo Issaka, the sub-Saharan sculler, who has been capturing the hearts of spectators at Eton Dorney. For someone who was only persuaded to take up rowing last November, he has done his country proud simply by taking part.

It now emerges there is not a single rowing boat in Niger, a sizeable landlocked slab of West Africa bordered by Algeria, Libya, Burkino Faso, Mali, Chad, Nigeria and Benin. Officials from the country are hopeful that four boats will arrive next month, insisting the 35-year-old Djibo Issaka has "potential" to improve significantly. "We have rivers and we have lakes," said Ahmadou Youssoufou, a member of Niger's national Olympic committee. "We think we have a real potential to do this sport in our country." It is impossible not to salute his optimism.

Then again, the people of Niger are accustomed to battling against the odds. Niger may be the 22nd-largest country in the world – it is almost twice the size of Texas – but more than 80% of its land area is covered by the Sahara. Its inhabitants are more familiar with the Erg of Bilma, a so-called "sea of dunes", than ergometers. Droughts and desertification are a way of life and the literacy rate among the 15 million-strong population is among the lowest in the world at less than 30%.

The UN, consequently, rates it among the world's least-developed nations. Its main export, uranium, has been hit by falling prices and potential oil and gold-mining wealth has yet to be realised. Since independence in 1960, there has also been considerable political instability, with the most recent military coup having occurred in 2010.

Slavery was only officially abolished in 2003 – human rights organisations continue to have concerns – and there are prospect of global warming extending the Sahara's spread still further. The nation's sporting achievements, unsurprisingly, have been somewhat limited. Their six-strong team at these Games include a 14-year-old swimmer, Nafissatou Moussa Adamou, but the only Olympic medal in their history was won by the boxer Issaka Daborg in the light-welterweight division in Munich in 1972. Football is the country's No1 sport but they have yet to qualify for a World Cup.

No wonder Djibo Issaka has looked nonplussed at the attention he is receiving. A mere three-month stint of pre-Games training in Egypt, Tunisia and Belgium was deemed sufficient to prepare the divorced father of two, after he was awarded a wildcard courtesy of an IOC programme aimed at developing sports beyond their traditional boundaries. A gardener by profession, he picked up some of his aquatic knowledge by working at a children's swimming pool. He had only previously seen rowing on the television.

He still has one more race to go, the classification final on Friday, before he can take a breather. "I have no technique, I only have strength," he sighed this week. Niger's officials insist otherwise. "In the next Games Hamadou will be stronger and faster," insisted Youssoufou. Will he really be back again at Rio in 2016? Millions will be hoping so.