Abuja – Preparations for the Continental Cup Women’s Finals, the African women qualifiers for the Rio Olympics, are in top gear, an official said on Friday in Abuja.
Adisa Beyioku, Secretary-General of Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the federation had been putting in place all the necessary facilities and other logistics.
NAN reports that the competition, which serves as the Olympic Qualification finals, is scheduled to begin on Tuesday at the Abuja National Stadium and end on April 20.
“We have moved into top gear in our preparations for some time now. Of course, we had been preparing for the competition for some months. But we shifted into high gear some weeks ago.
“This is because this is an international event, and we have to make our country and the sport proud by excellently hosting and making the competition a memorable one for all our guests,’’ Beyioku said.
He said NVBF had already put in place eight sub-committees to enhance a smooth organisation of the competition which will have teams from 12 countries taking part.
The NVBF secretary-general listed the sub-committees to include Venues and Facilities headed by the federation’s Technical Director, Tony Oghuma-Eghiemai, and Accommodation which is headed by federation’s Vice-President Prof. Ebenezer Morakinyo.
“There are also the Security Sub-Committee, headed by Commodore Barau, Medical Sub-Committee, headed by Dr Paul Oyido, Transport Sub-Committee, headed by A.A. Ajayi, and Protocol and Ceremonial Sub-Committee, headed by Philomina Lolo Egbuniwe.
“The rest are the Media and Publicity Sub-Committee, headed by Amtai Inuwa, and the Finance Sub-Committee, headed by the NVBF President and IOC Member Habu Gumel,’’ he said.
Beyioku also disclosed that for effective coordination of all activities, the NVBF has also appointed board member and former Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, as Competition Coordinator/Adviser.
NAN reports that the countries participating in the Olympic qualifiers are Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Namibia and Burkina Faso.
Only one qualification ticket is available at the competition, with the runners-up qualifying for the 2017 world championship.(NAN)
