‘All Sports Should Be Treated Equally’

A veteran sports analyst,  Ayo Ositelu,  has urged the Minister for Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, to adopt an all embracing approach in his administration to ensure an even development for the country’s sports.

Ositelu told newsmen in Lagos that, if the minister would adhere to his advice, sports development in the country would be given a new lease of life.

He wondered why football is being given a preferential treatment, to the detriment of other sports, in the country.

He said that football even though an Olympic sport, could only win one gold medal at a given time, compared to other disciplines that could win as many medals as possible for the country.

“I hope he (Abdullahi) would be able to perform better than his predecessors, I hope he won’t be a minister of football, because all those before him were.

“One thing they all failed to realise is that you can only get two medals from football, one for the male team and one for the female team, from Olympics you can get about a thousand medals.

“So it’s worrisome when you focus on two medals, we have limited our potentials by restricting our focus to football.

“In tennis we have doubles and singles, all in all four medals, not to mentioin athletics where we have several sub-sections”, he said.

The analyst further stated that most of the federations could not perform their financial obligations to their international affiliates, because they lacked the means to do so.

Ositelu added that it was disturbing that the football teams could not qualify for the Olympic Games, he added that people should not expect miracle at the 2012 Games.

“There are some associations that could not pay their normal affiliation fees to their parent body such as the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).

“The same football that they have given a pride of place failed to qualify for the Olympics Games it’s unheard of and provoking.

“Since we have decided to put all our eggs in one basket, I foresee a terrible outing for us at the Olympics”, the sports veteran said.

“Now we are hoping on the so called lesser sports to bring us medals how ironical.