Coach Cletus Okagbe of the
Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria (KBFN), has urged the newly-inaugurated board of the federation to embark on an aggressive sponsorship drive, to reposition the sport.
Okagbe told newsmen in Lagos that lack of sponsors remained the major challenge to the development of the sport in the country.
“There is need to ensure that KBFN’s national and international annual programmes are accomplished and this can only be realised with the availability of funds.
“I believe with the new board, there will be lots of positive developments in kickboxing generally, because athletes will be engaged in a series of competitions.
“Engaging in a series of national and international competitions will enable the athletes to improve their skills.
“So, the new board must all go out for massive sponsorship support to ensure a transformation for both the athletes and officials,’’ he said.
Okagbe said that it was very important to ensure that technical officials attended international refresher courses to assist them in upgrading their technical competencies.
“Our technical officials must be able to stand with their colleagues out there, in terms of having current knowledge and latest developments through regular attendance of international refresher courses,’’ he added.
The coach, who expressed confidence in the skills of national athletes, said he believed that with adequate training, the athletes would be able to prove their worth in national and international contests.
“Kickboxing has 34 weight categories and athletes must be given the opportunity to represent themselves in these weight categories by giving them adequate background exposure to enable them to excel,’’ Okagbe said.