Sports
Sports Fans Blame AFN For Athletes Drug Scandal
Sports fans in Enugu have blamed the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) for the three athletes who tested positive to prohibited drugs at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in India.
The fans told newsmen yesterday in Enugu that the federation’s inaction caused their failing the tests and embarrassing the nation.
“AFN is to blame for the use of drugs by the athletes,’’ Ephraim Ochomma, Athletics Chief Coach, Enugu State Sports Council said.
“Indeed, they made nonsense of the medals they won at the Games. The athletics team was an embarrassment to the nation.
“The president of the federation, Solomon Ogba, should accept responsibility for their disgracing the country and resign.
“AFN did not handle the competition properly. There was no seriousness in their preparation at all, hence they were desperate to take drugs to succeed,’’ he said.
Ochomma criticised the non-selection of coaches from the South-East to participate in the Games, saying the preparation was haphazardly done.
He wondered why a top sprinter like Obinna Metu was not included in the team to the Games when he posted 10.2 secs at the Mobil Track and Field Championships.
Uche Emedolu, a former World Cup medalist acknowledged that though the athletes tried their best, the preparation was poor.
“I can tell you they went there individually. There was no encouragement, no support and motivation,’’ Emedolu said.
“The result they had in New Delhi was not encouraging. It did not show that Nigeria participated at the Games.
“It was as if only Para-sports athletes were at the Games for Nigeria,’’ he said.
According to him, there should be adequate education and early training for the athletes to improve their fortune in future competitions.
“Proper education, provision of incentives and early preparation are the basic things a sports person needs to excel in any competition.
“During our time, there was determination and adequate education. We prepared early enough to face any competition. That was why we succeeded,’’ said the former Commonwealth Games silver medalist.
He described as unfortunate the involvement of some athletes in prohibit drugs and blamed the Federation for it.
Emedolu, however, advised young athletes to shun drugs while participating in competitions
Ikechukwu Okoronkwo, former Light Welterweight Boxing Champion, said the athletes who excelled did so through self effort.
Okoronkwo explained that they could have done much better, if they were trained properly.
On the doping test failed by three Nigerian athletes, he said: “The AFN must be questioned over their role in it’’.
Okoronkwo said that those who tested positive might have been tempted to take drugs to gain confidence to face their opponents.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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