Maputo Games Team Nigeria’s optimism vs Nigerians’ pessimism
Team Nigeria will storm Maputo with close to 400 athletes with a single aim- to repeat the feat achieved in 2003 when the country hosted and won the 8th edition of the games in Abuja. A total of 324 athletes will represent Nigeria in Maputo. A breakdown shows that 36 athletes men and women will […]
Team Nigeria will storm Maputo with close to 400 athletes with a single aim- to repeat the feat achieved in 2003 when the country hosted and won the 8th edition of the games in Abuja.
A total of 324 athletes will represent Nigeria in Maputo. A breakdown shows that 36 athletes men and women will take part in athletics, 12 in Badminton, 24 in Basketball, 8 in Beach Volleyball, 9 in Boxing, 12 in Canoeing, 12 in Chess, 12 in Cycling, 36 in Handball, 14 in Judo, 22 in Karate, 44 Para-athletics, 9 in Para-Swimming, 10 in Swimming, 10 in Table Tennis, 16 in Taekwondo, 8 in Tennis, 6 in Triathlon and 24 in Volleyball.
The first batch of athletes for the games departed the country yesterday. The batch made up of athletes, coaches, medical personnel and secretaries of Basketball, Boxing, Karate, Volleyball and Triathlon events departed to Maputo from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja aboard an Air Nigeria aircraft. The commission said it has concluded all arrangements for a hitch free movement of the athletes and their officials.
As the countdown continues, NSC is upbeat that Team Nigeria would win medals at the games and if possible dethrone Egypt which won the last edition in Algeria in 2007 but most Nigerian sports fans have received the assurances with a pinch of salt. The optimism oozing from the camp of Team Nigeria has failed to overwhelm the undying pessimism from Nigerians.
Such doubt cannot be said to be unfounded in view of the fact that the country no longer boasts of athletes that can send shivers down the spines of other African countries.
Although the commission has failed in its initial plan to take the athletes abroad for training tours, the acting Director of Elites Athletes department, Mallam Alhassan Yakmut told Shot! exclusively that there is no cause for alarm because the athletes selected for the games in Maputo were thoroughly brushed with pre-games tournaments at home and abroad.
He said: “We invited the technical expertise in and also made arrangement for off shore-training camps. We arranged for off shore training competitions and tune up matches”.
According to him, while the athletes were in camp in six centres across the country, they had opportunities to attend international championships which put them in competition mood.
Yakmut said to ensure they are battle ready, the handball teams which camped in Kaduna embarked on a playing tour of the West African region. The female volleyball team went to Kenya where it attended an African championship.
“Our basketball team had tune up matches in England, USA and Germany. Team Taekwondo recently attended a World Open Championship. Judo is in France for the world championship and we are presenting six Judokas. Karate just came back from Ghana where it attended the West Africa tournament. Chess had its exposure in Sudan where there was an Africa Championship for the 2012 Olympics qualifiers. The Beach volleyball team was in Ghana for tune up matches. Basketball is at the moment in Madagascar and so they are crossing over to meet us in Mozambique. Athletics is moving in from Germany. In the absence of the proposed foreign training, we took option B where athletes can go for strategic tune up matches. Our preparations have not been affected because we have already adopted alternatives that are of equal benefit”.
There is nothing that can be as reassuring as this but most Nigerians still lack confidence in Team Nigeria as far as Maputo Games is concerned. For such people, the camps may be kept perennially busy but the hand writing on the wall for them is too cold for comfort.
Apart from the issue of athletes’ quality, the commission appears cash strapped and may not meet its financial obligations to the athletes and their officials. It was reported that the commission would need at least N3b to prosecute the games but up to this moment, nobody knows how much Team Nigeria has realized for its participation in the games.
Another disturbing issue which the commission itself has acknowledged as a major setback is the exclusion of wrestling and weightlifting from the games. It is an open secret that Nigeria is very strong in both sports.
Top Nigerian athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Damola Osayomi, Ogho Oghene Egwere, Doreen Amata, and Tosin oke who are currently vying for medals at the 2011 World Athletics Championship in Daegu would be in Maputo to represent Nigeria but informed sources said the coiuntry is going to record her worst performance in athletics. It was not the same story in the past when the likes of Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Falilat Ogunkoya Osheku, Tina Iheagwam Yusuf Ali, Innoncent Egbunike, Sunday Bada and the Ezenwa brothers competed for the country.
It is worrisome to note that names Okagbare, Oke, Osayomi and Egwere have failed to inspire much confidence. Consequently, cynicism is really high among Nigerians but Team Nigeria on its part is vehement that Nigerians would have victories to savour once the games commence. It is therefore a contest between Team Nigeria’s hazy optimism and Nigerians’ suffocating pessimism. When the games end, notes would be compared to determine the better of the two opposing sides.