Sports
Taekwondo: Team Nigeria Assures Of Picking Tokyo Olympics Tickets
National taekwondo team captain, Chinazum Nwosu, yesterday assured that the team would pick tickets to the 2020 Olympics at the Africa Qualification Tournament in Rabat, Morocco.
Nwosu told newsmen in Abuja, ahead of the team’s departure to Morocco yesterday, that the athletes were fully ready to perform and excel.
Tidesports source reports that the team left Abuja yesterday after an initial postponement of its scheduled departure due to a delay in release of funds.
The team’s quartet of Chinazum Nwosu, Benjamin Okuomose, Elizabeth Anyanocho and Ifeoluwa Ajayi, as well as accompanying officials left for Rabat via Air Maroc Airlines.
The contingent was expected to arrive just in time for the qualifiers which runs from Friday to Monday.
Nwosu, who narrowly lost out on clinching a Rio 2016 Olympics ticket, is hopeful for different results in Rabat where she won an African Games medal in 2019.
She said the team had prepared well for the tournament and expressed confidence in the team doing the country proud.
“As captain of the team, I know 100 per cent that the team is ready and we are very focused on qualifying for the Olympics,” Nwosu said.
On his part, Okuomose said his aim was to go a step further in the sport by qualifying for the Olympics.
The African Games bronze medalist and national champion said his participation at the Fujairah Open recently had boosted his confidence for the qualifiers in Rabat.
“I do not feel any tension and I am very ready to make Nigeria proud. I just have to stay focused,” he said.
Also, Anyanocho said the support from the Nigeria taekwondo community had been very helpful.
“My mind and body have undergone serious training. So, I believe I have prepared enough. I will like to thank members of the Nigeria taekwondo family for their kind words and encouragement,” she said.
Ifeoluwa Ajayi, Nigeria International Open gold medalist and current national champion, acknowledged that the team would be up against the best at the qualifiers.
“But I am optimistic about the team’s chances. We will definitely deliver.’’
Earlier, Margaret Binga, the President of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), had said she was glad the team had departed for the Olympic qualifiers after the initial delay.
She said the team was well prepared for the tournament and assured that Nigeria’s flag would be hoisted at the taekwondo event of the Tokyo Olympics later in the year.
The tournament will have 105 participants, made up of 63 male and 42 female from 36 countries.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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