Nwankpa Rates Boxing Low At Eko 2012

The immediate past head
coach of the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), Obisia Nwankpa,  has
rated the standard of boxing at recently concluded 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos as low.

Nwankpa,
in an interview  in Lagos lamented the
dearth of quality boxers at the Games, tagged “Eko 2012’’.

The
former Common Wealth Games Champion said that he was not impressed with the
standard displayed by the boxers.

“I think we are not getting it right because I did not see quality boxers from all the bouts I watched,’’ he said.

Nwankpa
noted that many of the boxers might be technically sound but lacked the stamina
a good boxer needed to excel.

He said
the missing link was the fact that their coaches had not worked hard enough.

“This
goes to show that the states are not developing sports but rather looking for
short cuts to success in sports,’’ the former pugilist said.

Nwankpa,
who described sports administrators as “slave drivers,’’ alleged that they had
been feeding fat on sports, to the detriment of the athletes.

“The
quality of athletes is a reflection of what is happening in the sports sector.