ABUJA – Gabriel Okon, the President, Track and Field Coaches Association of Nigeria on Wednesday expressed optimism that Nigerian athletes would perform better this year in all competitions.
Okon told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that Nigeria was a power house in athletics in Africa, adding that it would want to remain so even at the world stage.
According to him, Nigeria is making efforts to achieve the set objective.
“Nigeria is a power house in athletics as far as Africa is concerned; we are trying to be a power house in the world, and we are getting there step by step, but it’s slower than I thought; but we are getting there.
“The athletes are preparing; in athletics track and field, you cannot over-prepare.
“So they are preparing; we are getting there and I think we will do better and I know we have a crop of athletics, who are also training in the USA and will join the team, to strengthen the team.
“Depending on when the funds are released, we can go into camping and everything else will fall in place.“
Okon said that the association would concentrate on Nigeria’s areas of strength, namely: sprint, jumps and hurdles.
“Furthermore, we are going to concentrate on our stronghold, which is always the sprint, jumps and hurdles.
“And then we can pick few throwers and few vertical jumpers just to join the horizontal jump which is the long jumps.
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“So we are probably looking at 30 to 45 athletes for the All African Games, and about 20 to 22 athletes for the World Championships.
“And for the World Universities Games, we are probably looking at 25 athletes.“.
He commended the Federal Government for supporting the sport through the timely release of funds. (NAN)
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