George Aluo
Team Nigeria will be featuring only in 11 sports at the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympics.
Sports minister, Sunday Dare, who disclosed this over the weekend, said competing in only 11 sports is a clear signal that Tokyo 2020 won’t be a jamboree for Team Nigeria.
In his words: “Nigeria will be competing in 11 sports as opposed to the 22 sports that they took part in at the last Olympics. Our target is to ensure that resources are channelled to sports where the country has comparative advantage.”
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Dare stressed that the welfare of athletes would come first as Nigeria strives to better her performance in Rio 2016 where the country won only a bronze courtesy of football.
“The welfare of the athletes remains our priority and that is why we came up with the Adoption Campaign which has been quite rewarding. As I speak with you, athletes have got their money from their adopters. It is really an organic process and ours, is to supervise the process.”
On the readiness of Team Nigeria, Dare stated: “Nigeria is ready for Tokyo 2020 and I say that because the team has been preparing in the last four years. What we now see is that level of preparation that finally puts them where they want to be in terms of training, camping and in terms of the international championships they need to really attend to sharpen their skills. We are working very hard to see that our funds are released early enough to actualize our dreams.”
