Triple Jumper Seeks Better Welfare For Athletes

A Triple Jumper, Otoye Iworima, has appealed to the National Sports Commission (NSC) to make athletes’ welfare a priority to ensure a good outing at the All Africa Games (AAG) in Maputo in August.

Iworima, who won a gold medal at the 2007 All Africa Games in Algeria, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen  on Sunday in Lagos.

She said that the NSC should make training fund available to athletes directly to ensure that they were not diverted to other purposes.

“Funds should be made available directly to individual athletes to prepare for the Games instead of through sports federations.

“What the government should do is to provide a camp with adequate facilities and pay us money to manage ourselves during training for the Games.

“It is also important that government should monitor athletes’ training when such money is given to them,’’ she said.

Iworima, who participated at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, criticised the training camp for track and field events athletes in Oghara.

She said the equipment there were not standard while the environment was not favorable.