6th August, 2010
The President, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Simon Umeh, says inadequate funding is the bane of the sport in the country.
At the Merit Award and Gala night, which the federation held last Sunday at the Chief Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Umeh said the country has credible professional wrestlers who have what it takes to compete with the best in the world. But he noted that the constraint to attract corporate bodies’ sponsorships, governments’ attention as well as private individuals’ supports for the federation’s programmes are killing the sport.
Umeh revealed that he met with the Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Isa Bio, whom he pleaded with to give the sport adequate support in order to achieve its numerous developmental programmes, stating that the zeal to improve the standard of professional wrestling made them to bring stakeholders in the sport together .
Umeh also disclosed that plan is underway to repackage the sport to attract foreign countries so that Nigerian professional wrestlers would have opportunity to feature in invitational tournaments outside the shores of the country.
He added that the federation had written many international bodies participe in international competitions and the response had been very positive.
—Wale Joseph