Taekwondo Imposes Fitness Criterion: All Africa Games

The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) yesterday said that only fit athletes would be taken to the All Africa Games (AAG) in Maputo in September.

“Any athlete who is diagnosed of a serious health issue will be dropped from participating in AAG because we are not going to compromise the health of any of  our athletes,” NTF secretary Chinedu Ezeala- Ogundare told newsmen in Lagos.

“Even if that will be the only athlete to give us a gold medal at the competition, we are not going to risk it.”

Ezeala-Ogundare explained that the decision was informed by the experience of  one of the athletes, Temidayo Jegede, at the 2012 London Olympics qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan, early this month.

She said that Jegede had irregular breathing which led to his disqualification, adding  that the athletes would be thoroughly screened to assess their medical fitness.

The secretary said Chiamaka Onumonu, who fights in the heavyweight division, had been dropped from the national camp because of poor performance  at the 17th National Sports Festival.

She said that Onumonu had been replaced by Plateau’s Joyce Joseph who won gold at the festival.

The secretary said that the performance of the athletes at the festival was one of the criteria for selection to camp.

“The federation made use of the festival as a criterion to adjudge fighters by stating that those who do not win a medal will not be allowed to return to the camp for the AAG,” she said.

Ezeala-Ogundare also said that the federation felt bad that Chika Chukwumerije did not qualify in Baku for the London Olympics but noted that he still had another opportunity in Egypt in January.