Olympic Wrestling: Lack Of Funds May Affect Team Nigeria

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Technical Director of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, NWF, Daniel Igali, has expressed fears that Nigerian wrestlers may not do well at the qualifying tournament for the London Olympics in Morocco next month

Igali attributed his fears to lack of funds, stating that if funds are not released to the federation on time Nigeria may not send wrestlers for the trials.

He said the athletes for qualifier are already behind schedule in terms of preparation.

He believes that with the quality of Nigerian wrestlers, there is no doubt that they will do the country proud in Morocco, but preparation is key to great performance.

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“We still lag far behind in our preparation for the tournament. All of us are aware that funding is the biggest challenge of sports in the country, I think it is a quiet late for us to start thinking about preparation now. It is late that we are not even in camp for the Olympics qualifier, but that is not going to be our excuse,” said Igali.

He added: “What I’ve realised over the years is that if you wait for the Federal Government to give you money before you start preparation, your programme may suffer.

“So, I have to make personal sacrifice to raise fund and Bayelsa State government has also been very supportive. We hope that we will not be caught napping when we get to Morocco for the qualifiers.”

—Francis Achi/Abuja

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