… As Weightlifting Federation Laments Lack Of Chairs, Stationeries For Event

The Nigerian Weightlifting Federation said it hired most chairs and stationeries being used for the event at the 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt.

Navy Captain Babatunde Adedimeji ( Rtd,) Chairman of the Federation’s Technical Committee disclosed this on Monday in an interview in Port Harcourt.

Adedimeji    noted that the Main Organizing Committee (MOC) of the festival had not assisted the federation on the issue despite several complaints made to it.

“We had to hire chairs, stationeries and banners for the event in order to meet up with the demands of the athletes, officials and spectators.

“We also hired a generator in the wake of irregular power supply by the Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria (PHCN), he said.

Adedimeji however commended the MOC for assisting the federation in the area of venue and provision of additional officiating officials.

“The MOC changed the initial venue for the event-Port Harcourt Club 1928 with the more conducive Township School at Moscow Road.

“The initial venue’s hall lacked enough space for the lifting contests, had no facilities for athletes’ warm up exercises and general sitting arrangement.

“The MOC also assisted us in providing additional four technical officiating officials, as we lacked enough manpower to officiate the event which had over 300 athletes from 35 states of the federation and Abuja,” he said.

He noted that despite the enthusiasm shown by the athletes and officials, the standard of the event was average.

“We expected the standard to be higher than what it is presently, as the federation would review the situation at the end of the festival, to correct noticeable lapses,” he said.

Our source reports that Rivers and Akwa Ibom lead in the gold medal haul of the event with two gold medals each while states such as: Delta, Edo, Ogun and Plateau; have one gold medal each.