Brazil 2016: Nigeria To Groom ECOWAS Games’ Athletes

The National Sports Commission (NSC) will focus on grooming its athletes who perform well at the on-going ECOWAS Games, for the 2016 Olympic Games, Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi has said.

Abdullahi, who made the promise early in the week while addressing Nigerian athletes at the Games holding in Accra, Ghana, said he was impressed by their performances.

Nigeria is taking part in the second edition of the Games, which began last weekend and will end today.

Already, the Nigerian contingent of 43 athletes and 30 officials had as at Monday evening won 10 gold, eight silver and three bronze medals to upstage hosts Ghana that initially topped the medals table.

“We believe that even if you can’t be part of the athletes that will compete for Nigeria in London at the Summer Olympic Games in July, we can begin to hope that at the next Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016, champions will emerge from amongst you here,’’ Abdullahi said.

The minister, who is also the NSC Chairman, said the commission was going to take note of all the athletes who competed in Ghana and give them motivational support.

“We are going to continue to support you, and continue to give you all the necessary exposure,” he said.

Abdullahi, who arrived at the Games on Monday, also said he was going to inform President Goodluck Jonathan of the athletes’ performances for appropriate reward.

“For now, we are very proud of what we have achieved and I will convey this to Mr President; and I can assure you that you will be adequately rewarded at the appropriate time,’’ he said.

The athletes won the six gold, three silver and one bronze medals in track and field events at the El-Wak Stadium in the presence of the minister.

Team Nigeria had trailed the hosts from Day One last Saturday, and had slipped further down on Monday morning when it lost out in the team event of traditional wrestling.

But a scintillating performance later in the day in athletics events helped Nigeria to move to the summit of the medals table.

The minister urged the athletes to do more to ensure that the country led the medals table at the end of the Games.

“I am very excited to see the performances that most of you posted since I got here and I can tell you that Nigeria is indeed the leader in West Africa.

“You have to maintain the tempo till the end of the game, as the country will settle for nothing less than winning the Games.

“This is the West African Games, and there shouldn’t be any doubt about who the leader in West Africa should be,’’ he said.

Abdullahi also pledged his support for the growth of athletics, saying that “he is not a minister of Football but a minister of sports’’.