22nd July, 2014
Adebobola Alawode
With 24 hours to the commencement of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, former Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Council, LSSC, Mr. Agboola Dabiri, has declared in emphatic terms that Team Nigeria’s contingent to the Games may not better their previous achievement at the bi-ennial tournament.
With a total of 127 athletes, Team Nigeria will be competing in seven sports, Boxing; Athletics; Shooting; Wresting; Weightlifting; Table-Tennis and Para Sports and Dabiri feels they cannot perform better than their last appearance in India, two years ago where they won 11 gold, 8 silver and 14 bronze medals. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games will be Team Nigeria’s 12th appearance at the tournament.
Dabiri, a chieftain of All Progressive Congress, APC, in Lagos State told P.M.NEWS Sports yesterday that he based his prediction on the poor preparation of the athletes ahead of the competition, which opening ceremony will hold tomorrow. He noted that sports-loving Nigerians should not expect much from them, adding that too whom much is given, much is expected as Nigeria has not given much to the athletes and the nation should expect less from them.
He stated that countries that want to perform creditably well at the Games commenced preparations in good time, but Team Nigeria’s contingent were a bit behind time. To him, this may have a negative impact on their chances of winning more medals than previous editions of the event. “I do not see Team Nigeria on ground at all for me to look at them as a group of athletes that will represent us well at the Glasgow Games. We can pick few medals from table tennis because of series of international tournaments that the players attended in the last few months, but in other sports, it will be woeful. The overall performance won’t be good for Team Nigeria.
It is so sad that at the national level, development of sports is at its lowest ebb unlike in some states such as Lagos and Delta where the governments are taking sports serious. The grassroots sports development in Lagos is what the Federal Government should copy at the centre and I also like the sponsorship package Delta State government gave to Blessing Okagbare. If the Federal Government had done the same for some other athletes, the country would have reaped from this.’’
On what should be done for Nigeria, as a country to do well in international competitions, Dabiri advised the National Sports Commission, NSC, to focus on youth sports development, as there are a lot of budding talents at the grassroots that can be used to replace aging ones.
He also wants sports centres build at every low cost housing project that the Federal Government will be building in the nearest future, adding that coaches should be sent on refresher courses as it would afford them the opportunity to learn modern techniques in the game, which they will in turn impact on athletes under their tutelage.