NSF: Bayelsa sensitises athletes, officials against drug abuse

Ahead of the forthcoming National Sports Festival (NSF) tagged Gateway Games, in Ogun State, the medical department of the Bayelsa State Sports Council has sensitised athletes, coaches, sports administrators and other stakeholders on the dangers of doping and drug abuse. Speaking at the workshop held at the multipurpose hall of the Sampson Siasia stadium in […]

Ahead of the forthcoming National Sports Festival (NSF) tagged Gateway Games, in Ogun State, the medical department of the Bayelsa State Sports Council has sensitised athletes, coaches, sports administrators and other stakeholders on the dangers of doping and drug abuse.

Speaking at the workshop held at the multipurpose hall of the Sampson Siasia stadium in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital for the sports stakeholders, the president of Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) and Bayelsa State Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr Daniel Igali, urged the participants to avoid doping in order to reach the heights of their profession.

He advised the athletes to see him as an exemplary figure, who through discipline in his active days became an international athlete of repute by winning gold medals in wrestling at the Olympics and World Wrestling Championships.

Also speaking, the Head of Department, medicals in the Bayelsa State Sports Council, Dr. Justice Patani Akpotu, said that drug abuse or doping can never be synonymous with a successful sporting career for any athlete.

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The Bayelsa Director of Sports, Sir Braveman Wodi, also urged athletes to always endeavour to come out clean in any drug test ahead of any competition.

Represented by HOD organizing in the council, Mr. Andrew Aye, Wodi maintained that doping can only shorten the lifespan of an athlete.