ABUJA – Chika Chukwumereije, a member of Board of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), said the federation had begun nurturing athletes who would represent the country at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Chukwumerije told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that the athletes were currently undergoing training at the Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) in the Federal Capital Territory.
He said that the 6th CCSF Training Workshop for Under-20 which ended on Saturday was one of the programmes designed to prepare the athletes for the 2020 Olympics.
“As an organisation we have been consistent since 2010 when we started; we have attracted many countries to Nigeria since we started.
“We use the latest technology for our events and champions have been produced from the workshops we have organised.
“We have gone ahead to sponsor and give scholarships to people in schools and encourage them in their education; these are the foundations for qualifying for Tokyo.
“With the equipment, consistent training, the dedication of time and passion in spite the lack of resources, I am confident that we will qualify.
“For Rio (Brazil Olympics), I didn’t make any pronouncement but for the three Olympics before then, I made a pronouncement that we will qualify; I am going to make that again.
“We will qualify for Tokyo 2020 and most of them will come from CCSF going by the height and advantage this set of athletes have,’’ Chukwumerije said.
According to him, early preparation of athletes is necessary after Nigeria failed to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics in the event.
He said that the NTF leadership failed in its obligation which resulted in the poor outing of the country during the Olympics qualifiers.
“We have the best board but unfortunately there is no activity going on in the NTF; we don’t know what is going on and it’s like having a gun and not pulling the trigger.
“However, the work we do here in collaboration with seven board members is capable of nurturing champions for the country; we do this because of the passion we have for the sport.