Lagos – A retired sports administrator, Elias Gora, on Tuesday described the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation’s request for a wild card as unprofessional.
The news Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that countries, which fail to produce athletes through a qualification process, are granted “wild cards” to allow them to enter competitors whose abilities are below the required standards.
It will be recalled that after its four athletes failed to qualify for the Olympics following the qualifiers in Morocco, the federation mulled the idea of getting a spot through a wild card.
Gora, who was Nigeria’s Chef de Mission to the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games in India, told NAN that qualification should be based on merit and nothing else.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“A wild card is given to an individual, in an individual sport or a team sport, for just observatory status.
“They are going to participate but with who? Someone, who will eliminate you in the first round.
“So to me on no account should Nigeria be asking for any wild card in any sport for participation in an Olympics Games.
“We are not talking of All African games, we are not talking of an African championship;
we are not talking of a regional games such as the Commonwealth games.
“We are talking of the ornate Games, the Olympics, so if you have a wild card you are already on your way out as you get there, so what is the use of getting a wild card?
“Its observer’s status participation.’’ (NAN)