13th July, 2012
Nigeria’s 200m bronze medalist to the 2012 African Athletics Championships in Athletics, Noah Akwu has disclosed that he was born to rule the world of athletics and this he believes he would achieve in no distant time.
The United States of America, USA based athlete is on the standby list of Nigerian athletes to the London 2012 Olympic Games and insisted that if given the chance to represent the country he would not disappoint his teeming fans both home and abroad.
The Kogi State-born athlete, who was among athletes that represented Nigeria in the Men’s 400m event of the 2010 African Championships in Athletics said athletics is what he is born to do and he won’t relent until he achieves his dream.
Stoutly built Akwu informed athletics weekly that if it is not athletics that there is no other sport that he would had taken up saying ‘I’m a born athlete and it is what I know best to do and I also know that I would come a world champion someday’.
Tracing how he took to athletics, he said he started at a very tender age and he was also encouraged by his parents. He added that the healthy rivalry that existed within his peers during his childhood spurred to put more efforts into his quest to become a world beater .
On the state of athletics in the country, he opined that the present board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN is doing their best but opined that if given the desired support that they can do more.
He urged all a sundry to come to the aid of the AFN by sponsoring some of the events of the AFN stating that for athletics to develop there is need for everybody to rally around the AFN to move track and field event in the country to the next level.
‘Sports is a big business, especially athletics, there is need for Nigeria to have an athletics league, I mean an avenue where athletes can compete round the year, athletics is supposed to be run like football, but how can the AFN have a league, when funds are not made available for them’, he disclosed.
He stated further that Nigeria can spring some surprises at the London 2012 Olympic Games if the track and field athletes are in the right frame of mind.