Lagos – Some participants at the ongoing Agoma Open Martial Art Festival in Lagos have expressed displeasure with the exclusion of four other sports at the competition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that only taekwondo is featuring in the championships, while four other martial art sports — karate, kickboxing, wushu kungfu and judo — were left out.
Nelson Oluigbo, a kickboxing referee, told NAN that the championship was incomplete without the other four martial sports.
Oluigbo said that kickboxers who had high hopes of participating in it were disappointed by their exclusion.
“Since the inception of the tournament in 2001, these championships have really helped to improve martial art athletes in the country; hence they look forward to it.
“But it’s really disappointing that only Taekwondo was featured in the 2016 edition which is not too good.
“I hope the coordinator will reconsider other sports in subsequent editions,’’ he said.
Adaeze Asigbe, a Taekwondo gold medalist in Poomsae, said the competition would have served as a good platform for other martial arts athletes to prepare for the 19th National Sports Festival in Calabar in November.
Asigbe said that most athletes who had won medals in the four excluded sports at the 2015 edition were not given the opportunity to defend their titles.
“A large number of athletes here are taekwondoists though it’s to our advantage, but for our other colleagues in karate and other martial sports, it’s a minus.
“Most of them want to use this championships to know their form and prepare for this year’s National Sports Festival but I am sure that they are disappointed and unhappy,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Oghenejobo, Coordinator of the tournament, has acknowledged the exclusion of other martial sports in the 2016 edition but said it was not in bad faith.
Oghenejobo promised that he would ensure that other athletes participated at subsequent championships.
“It is not in bad faith to exclude other martial arts in this year’s edition but the truth remains that the taekwondoists’ entries is very high so we decided to have only Taekwondo.
“But we will look into it because so many of the athletes and officials have expressed their displeasure and we hope to make it up in subsequent editions,” he said.
NAN reports that Hafeez Salawudeen won gold, Amusa Rasheed claimed silver and Abodunrin Sedan won bronze medals in the male category of the Poomsae event at the championships.
The female category has Adaeze Asigbe as gold medallist, Seminar Adebayo, silver, and Adaeze Efeobi bronze.
The competition is holding at the Knock Up Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos. (NAN)