Judoka Pleads With Federation To Organise Competitions

Worried by dearth of competitions, Solomon Eniafe, a Judoka, has appealed to the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) to organise regular competitions to improve on the growth of the sport.
Eniafe, a bronze medalist at the 2013 Mauritius International Judo Open, ranked 170th in 60kg weight category in the World Judo rankings, made the appeal while speaking to newsmen in Lagos yesterday.
He noted that the Lagos State Judo Association was consistent in training judokas, urging the association to engage judokas to compete outside their states.
“Judokas in all states are trying their best to train themselves; last year was nothing to write home about because there was no major competition in the sport.
“I am sure of that because we have been communicating with each other and I am certain that most of us are even fed up with the way things are going in the sport.
“We expect the federation to encourage us by making extra effort to organise competitions at least three times a year to encourage us.’’ he said.
Eniafe said judokas in the country still train irrespective of their non-participation in invitational tournaments.
He said that the last international championship Nigeria attended was in 2013 apart from the 2015 All Africa Games held in Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Our interest is to have an enabling environment to practice freely with our mates from other states, socialise and collectively get inspired to build our career.
“Many judokas go the extra mile to contribute money and materials to organise competitions for evaluating our standard.
“The only way to assess athletes is for the federation to engage them in tournaments.
“We are ready to make Nigeria proud if only we are given the opportunity to represent our great country,” he said.