AAG: Hope Rises For Weightlifting Event

The weightlifting event which was dropped as one of the sports to be contested for at the forthcoming All African Games in Mozambique, might still be included.

Chief Chimdi Ejiogu, President of the Weightlifting Federation of Nigeria (WFN) dropped the hint yesterday in Port Harcourt, in an interview with reporters.

Ejiogu noted that he arrived Port Harcourt from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he attended an International Conference organised by the sport’s world body.

“One of the major issues discussed at the conference was the exclusion of weightlifting from the All Africa Games by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa.

“The African Weightlifting Federation made a serious case for its re-inclusion and we got a strong assurance from the International Weightlifting Federation, that all avenues would be explored to see to its re-inclusion,” he said.

Ejiogu noted that the WFN was seriously concentrating on the Olympics qualifiers pending the final outcome of the re-inclusion debacle.

“The African Weightlifting Championship would be held in Uganda before the end of the year, as it would be used to determine the countries that would represent the continent at the Olympics Games next year.”

“We would blend the talents discovered at this sports festival with those already selected for camping to ensure that the country qualifies for the Olympics,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction with the standard displayed by lifters at the festival, noting that the federation would aim at improving on the standard at future festivals.

“The technical reports I received from the board indicates that the standard was relatively high, though there was still room for serious improvement,” he said.

Ejiogu rued the nonchalant attitude of multinational and corporate organisations in sponsoring the sport, noting that the development was posing serious challenges to the federation.

“Weightlifting is a sport that guarantees several medals for the country and these organisations fail to realise that it would not be much for them to project the image of their host nation positively, by sponsoring such sport.

“I am appealing to them to give the same level of attention given to football to other sports, in order to develop sports generally in the country,” he said.