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Nigeria: 42 Wrestlers in Camp for Olympic Qualification
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This Day (Lagos)
26 February 2008
Posted to the web 26 February 2008
Femi Atoyebi
Lagos
Ahead of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the Wrestling Federation of Nigeria has confirmed the presence of 42 wrestlers in camp in readiness for the qualifiers scheduled for Tunisia.
President of the federation, Austin Edeze (MON) who confirmed this to THISDAYSports yesterday said that Nigeria stands to gain a lot in concentrating more on individual sports instead of wasting funds on team sports that may not fetch the desired medals.
According to him, amateur wrestling can become the hub of the nation's success in international sporting events if greater attention is given to its growth.
"We are going into our federation's full council meeting tomorrow in Abuja with the wrestlers' interest in mind. This is to be preceded by the board's meeting today (Tuesday), where quality time will be devoted to how the federation will succeed in the Olympic qualifiers coming up in Tunisia as from next week. To this end, 42 wrestlers have been called to camp, with six officials working with them in Abuja. We are happy to announce that Dr. Daniel Igali, one of the nation's wrestling instructors is heading the technical team.
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"At the last All Africa Games in Algiers, we went to the tournament with eleven wrestlers ad returned with eleven medals, meaning each wrestler came back with a medal. This is due to the fact that we worked round the clock each season to ensure that the wrestlers get exposures. For instance, we were in Egypt and Azerbaijan for international tournaments and returned with successes. Our officials have been upgraded to international standard to help put the wrestlers through current trend in the sports," stressed the wrestling boss.
Edeze pointed out that Nigeria will profit greatly from Greeco Roman and Free Styles, which have become the stronghold of Nigeria amateur wrestlers, thanking the National Sports Commission (NSC), states and individuals who have organised wrestling championship, for coming to the wrestlers' aid, as they prepare for the Olympics.
"NSC did well by providing training facilities for the wrestlers, thanks also go to Malam Yisa Yuguda Championship for boys and the Bauchi State government for organising the championship. I implore each state to emulate this idea, at least for various sports, so that Nigeria can boasts of several medal hopefuls in major events, not just football and other group sports," he said.
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