Ex-Director Urges Funding Of Wrestling

Jackson Bidei, has said that wrestling now requires a lot of funds, thereby, making its development in the state difficult.

Bidei told Tidesports in Lagos that in the absence of sponsorship, the process of discovering and nurturing talents was unwieldy.

He noted that the problem was not peculiar to the state alone, adding that the sport required huge financial commitment for athletes to excel.

“Wrestling used to be so good but today the system has been highly monetised and this is so because most wrestlers discovered are after money.

“Back then, traditional wrestlers fought for pride and not money and it’s often from traditional wrestling we convert them to conventional wrestlers.

“Nevertheless, this problem is nationwide and not specific to Bayelsa and it has made the development of the sport more difficult because you need sponsorship to excel,” he said.

Bidei, however, said that the state was doing well in terms of developing the sport but noted that competitions were instrumental in evaluating performance.

He added that the state had enormous talents who possessed the potential of becoming world beaters if they were well groomed.

“The state is doing well at the moment from what I can see and from the structure we were able to put in place before we left office.

“However, when it comes to evaluating your progress and performance it is largely from the number of competitions that have been able to put together.