- Dare says Nigeria may participate in only seven sports
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, will parley with the officials of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Abuja on Tuesday on Nigeria’s preparation for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Dare made this disclosure over the weekend while speaking to reports in Abuja.
The meeting will also be attended by the presidents and secretaries of all the National Sports federations.
The minister said the meeting is crucial as issues of preparation, camping and training of the Nigerian contingent will be discussed.
“The meeting with NOC and all the federations on October 15 will signal the official preparation for Tokyo 2016 in terms of camping and training. We will give our athletes the best they can have,” Dare said.
The minister also hinted that the era of jamboree is over as Nigeria will only leverage on the sports that it has the talent and is sure of winning medals.
“We will decide to go with a number of sports—not 20, not 50- but areas in which we are sure of winning medals. They may be, seven or nine of those sports. We will put our resources and technical excellence into those specialties. I think with the support of Nigerians with the plans we intend to execute, coupled with the support of the federal we will receive maximum support when it comes to this,” Dare said.
Dare also stressed that President Muhamadu Buhari will in the first week of November receive D’Tigers, the Nigerian contingent to the All Africa Games in Morocco and Ese Brume, who won Nigeria’s solitary medal at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.
The men basketball team finished 17th at the World Cup in China and secured Africa’s ticket for the Olympics, while Nigeria bagged 43 gold medals to finish second at the All Africa Games.
“We have written to the President seeking for a day and time to bring all these stars together. We will fly them in to meet the President as most of them are outside the country. And that should happen between now and the first week of November.” Dare said
