Para-athletics
By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
Lagos, June 22, 2018 (NAN) Austin Chima, a Para-athletics Coach in the Rivers State Athletics Association (RSAA), on Friday advised sports associations in the country to organise competitions to identify athletes for the 19th National Sports Festival (NSF).
Chima told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that such a step would help to bring back athletes that were competition-rusty due to dearth of championships.
NAN reports that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has fixed the 19th NSF for Dec. 6 to Dec. 16 in Abuja, having suffered postponements from 2014 to 2016.
The 18th edition of the event, tagged “Eko 2012'',organised by the defunct Lagos State Sports Council, was hosted by the Lagos State Government.
“Now that the date of the NSF has been declared by the sports ministry, it is important for states to start their in-house preparations, by organising competitions at the local government.
“I am optimistic that athletes will grab the opportunity, while the association will have an enabling environment to select athletes and conduct trials to get the best athletes for each state’s team.
“Such competitions will help to bridge the gap created for the five years the festival has not held, because the hope and skills of athletes are affected,’’ he said.
He said that the 19th NSF would be highly competitive as both existing and young athletes would be enthusiastic to showcase their skills and win medals.
The coach noted that the forthcoming festival would go a long way to get coaches meaningfully engaged because states would be willing to engage them in contracts toward preparing their representatives.
“The reinstatement of the abandoned NSF is a welcome development and the joy of it is that it will revive activities in states’ associations and keep the coaches busy,’’ he said.
Chima urged the Local Organising Committees (LOC) for the championships at the grassroots to be objective in the quest of raising crack teams that would make them proud in future international meets. (NAN)
MIL/FLP/PDE
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(Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Peter Ejiofor)