29th July, 2014
The Nigerian Government has said that it will pay special attention to any athlete who wins medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Minister of Sports, Dr. Tanmmy Danagogo made this disclosure while speaking on the victory of Nigerian athletes who have won medals for the country at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
“The government is going to pay special attention to our gold, silver and bronze medalists in this Games. Once we finish from this competition, we are going to monitor the medalists to ensure that they are in shape ahead of other tournaments.
“We are going to design a monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for them so that we can keep tab of everything they do. If we handle them this way, I am sure that we will be in a position to use them to win medals in the forthcoming Olympics and other Games in the future,” he said.
According to the minister, “the expectations of Mr. President and the rest of Nigerians is that we win more medals at this Games. We are proud of our athletes for what they have done for the country so far and the government is prepared to give them all the necessary supports they need to succeed.”
The minister, who expressed satisfaction at the performances of athletes in the weightlifting and Table Tennis events, said he was very optimistic that Nigeria would win more medals as the tournament progresses.
Oluwatoyin Adesanmi on Sunday, won another gold medal for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games in the women’s 63kg weightlifting, while Obioma Okoli won a silver medal bringing Nigeria’s number of medals to seven as Blessing Okagbare won the women’s 100m gold on Monday.
“I feel happy and hopeful that we will win more medals,” Dr. Danagogo said, noting that the performances of the athletes in the weightlifting event has “rekindled our hope that we have the capacity to win more medals in this tournament.
“If we keep up with this tempo, I am very optimistic that we are going to win more medals and I am urging our athletes to keep up the tempo so that we can continue harvesting more gold, silver and bronze medals,” he said.