26th July, 2011
President of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Solomon Ogba, has pledged that Nigerian athletes will be given the chance to sharpen their skills during a training tour of Germany ahead of their participation at the All Africa Games holding in Maputo, Zimbabwe in September.
Ogba revealed that the proposed tour of Germany is to enable the federation to maximise the potentials of the athletes as the country targets to surpass what they achieved at the 9th edition of the Games held in Algeria in 2007.
According to Ogba, Germany was considered after a careful evaluation of the facilities in the country in relation to the needs of the athletes competing at the championship.
Ogba also said that athletes discovered at the recently concluded 17th National Sports Festival in Rivers State will benefit tremendously from the tour, as they will be exposed to modern facilities that will be used at the Maputo Games.
“You can never underestimate the importance of the training tour for our athletes that are preparing for a major tourney such as the All Africa Games.
“We don’t want any distraction,which they may likely face at home. We have been preparing for the Games in Nigeria, but the training tour will assist the athletes and officials to develop strategies ahead of the competition,†he said.
The AFN training tour of Germany is coming on the heels of National Sports Commission decision to jettison the proposed training tour of South Korea for Team Nigeria, citing lack of fund.
—Bamidele Olowosagba