President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali says the country will win no medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics if the current situation of lack of funds persists.
Against the backdrop of widely held notion that some Sports including wrestling are capable of winning gold medals for Nigeria, Igali says the optimism by Nigerians is good but realistically no magic can be performed without adequate preparations.
The Bayelsa State Youths and Sports Commissioner who gave a scientific analysis of the situation said Nigeria cannot expect silver or gold as empirical observation does not suggest that any of the country’s athletes can rich that height.
According to him, it is impossible to be talking about silver or gold at the Olympics when no Nigerian athletes won anything at the World Championships last year. “It is good to be optimistic and hopeful. But I love to be scientific and expect results to come from a sequence of evidence of efforts and performances. It has been proven over the years that the Olympic silver or gold medalist is almost always the winner of the World Championships the previous year.
“Tell me how many Nigerians won silver or gold at the world championships preceding this Olympic year? If the answer is not in the affirmative, then there is need to question the confidence and optimism currently being expressed by some citizens on Team Nigeria’s ability to win gold medals in Paris”
Speaking further on Raypower 100.5 FM radio programme, Sports Fact File, Igali blamed the situation on lack of funds and sought the support of the Federal Ministry of Sports Development as well as the private sector in order to get athletes in camp and adequately prepared.
“There is no doubt that most sports federations handicapped by lack of funds are at about 50 percent preparations level which does not add up. You need 100 percent to stand a chance of a medal at the Olympic Games,” he declared.
While commending the Bayelsa State Government for always being there for the Wrestling Federation, Igali maintained that more is needed from the Federal Ministry of Sports Development and corporate Nigeria to help the various federations attain at least 80 percent preparation level.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
