Femi Atoyebi
6 May 2008
Lagos — Ekiti State Governor, Eng. Olusegun Oni has reiterated the readiness of his administration to support sports development in the state and Nigeria at all levels, promising that Nigeria's medal hopefuls at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, Olusoji Fasuba and Damola Osayomi will continue to receive tremendous support, until they do the state and the nation proud at the international meet.
Both athletes are of Ekiti State origin and maintained their positions as Africa's fastest man and woman last week, when they won their different sprint races at Africa Athletics Championship in Adis Ababa.
Eng. Oni, who addressed pressmen in Ado-Ekiti venue of the just concluded Nigeria Polytechnic Games (NIPOGA), said his government will protect both athletes from being exhausted before the Beijing Games.
"These are Ekiti State products and Nigeria's representatives. We are encouraging them and actually sponsoring them in a way. First we pay attention to them so they will run fewer competitions this year because in the Olympics year, what happens is that every athlete of note chooses fewer competitions to attend, so as to have enough energy to run at the Olympics. It comes once in four years and if you don't make it in those few days that the games will run, you lose the opportunity to do well for the next four years.
"A lot of promising Nigerian athletes at the Olympics did badly in the past because they participated in several competitions in Olympic years in order to off-set bills. If you remember the case of Innocent Egbunike, he was rated high at the time but did not maintain the ranking at the Olympics proper.
"Maybe they were not supported enough. We are trying to pick up some of those bills for Soji and Damola so that they will not be under too much of financial pressure and burn out too soon," he said.
The governor also stated that there seems to be a gene that runs in the veins of Ekiti athletes, and the present administration has already initiated developmental programmes that will boost the potential and polish discovered athletes into world champions.
Meanwhile, almost three months after being promised training grants to help them prepare for this summer's Olympic Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has finally redeemed its pledge.
The confirmation was made by the Technical and performance director of Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Sunday Bada.
He told brilafm.net from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that the AFN took the delivery of the money at the African Athletics Championship, which he said accounts for the good results and high performances by the Nigerian athletes. "There is nothing to worry about any longer, the grants have been paid and all the athletes are happy. The money was handed over right here in Addis Ababa and we have paid the athletes. "I am sure that's one of the reasons why we got good results. I know we could have done better under other circumstances, but the fact is still that all the athletes that matter have been paid, and they are all happy about it," Bada revealed.Nigeria emerged second on the medals table, with seven gold, seven silver and five bronze medals behind South Africa (twelve gold, two silver, eight bronze medals), and Bada says it was a fair outing for the contingent."There is nothing to complain about or to feel that we were thoroughly beaten. The fact is that South Africa came with a larger contingent and participated in more events, thereby giving them the extra advantage in numbers and an opportunity to win more medals," Bada explained.
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