PANAMAI Plans Camping For Championships Participants

The Pan African Martial Arts International (PANAMAI) Open Championships scheduled for next month will kick off with a pre-tournament camping, the President, Ferguson Oluigbo, has said.

Oluigbo told newsmen in Lagos that the exercise was to update knowledge of athletes on the new rules to be used during the competition.

“The purpose of the open camp is to educate and train the athletes on the current rules of the sport which will be applied at the National Sports festival.

“The open championships follow immediately to test their level of assimilation as the rules will be applied in all taekwondo championships’’ he said.

The PANAMAI president said that the camp would hold at the Indoor Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, between August 17 and August 19.

He said that four categories of athletes were expected in camp — white/yellow, blue/brown and red/black and senior belt holders.

“The ages of the athletes range from 5-12 years, 13-18 years, as well as 18 and above.

“We want to ensure that athletes are grouped in their particular age category to avoid casualties,’’ Oluigbo explained. 

He noted that the time to start grooming future professional athletes, who would succeed Olympic medallists like Uche Chukwumerije, was now.