19th NSF: Team Anambra stormed Abuja well prepared – Oli

The Chairman, Anambra State Sports Development Commission, Mr Tony Oli has hinted that sports in the Light of the Nation state have taken a new turn even as Governor Willie Obiano gave full backing to the contingent at the ongoing 19th National Sports Festival (NSF).

Oli who spoke to Blueprint Sports in Abuja maintained the recent approval and establishment of a sports development commission in Anambra has given Sporting arena in the state, a facelift.

According to the state chairman of ASDC who also gave an overview of how team Anambra are fairing: “We have giving other states a run for their money. In individual games, like Karate, we are well prepared. As the days go by, we take turns and do justice to whichever one that comes around. In every event, we set a target. For the past ten years, Anambra has not won gold medals. Notwithstanding starting from ground zero, we set a target to win at least ten gold medals. We have taken two, leaving us with eight to go. Who knows, we may win more. That is the target and we motivated them enough.

“I wouldn’t like to start predicting where we will be on the medal table. For me, it is to go there and meet my target first. It is just like the Premiership; where every coach will set a target of 40 points. That will make you not to be relegated, whatever it is, before you start thinking of winning the League Cup. For me, it is to set a reasonable target for my men and women, so that they will not lose focus. But if eventually we top the league table, then it is well and good.

“Basically, what the Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano, has done is, after dissecting sports in the past four years of the administration, coming into the new regime, to pull out sports completely from the former Youths and Sports Ministry. With that, we now have Anambra Sports Development Commission: focusing strictly on sports; everything sports.

“So with that, sports in Anambra state is taking shape. If you are close to our activities in the past two months, you will see that we have started reviving. We initiated work for Life, which we do every first Saturday of the month. Just last Tuesday, we launched football season. I think that’s the first of its kind in the country, where a state now has a football season. We are starting our season from November to 27th of May every year. Sports in Anambra state is taking a new shape.”

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