As the clock continue to tick towards next year, Tokyo Olympics , a sports stakeholder , Alhaji Ahmed Gara Gombe has raised alarm that disastrous outing await Team Nigeria at the global sporting fiesta which was postponed till next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The world’s biggest sporting spectacle was originally scheduled to hold in July 2020, the Games would now start on July 30, 2021 and run till August 8 2021.
Gara, in a statement posted on his social media handle, expressed concern over the seemingly slow or none preparations of the country’s athletes for the global sporting fiesta. He described the approval of December 3-18, 2020 as a new dates for the postponed 20th National Sports Festival, tagged ‘Edo 2020 Game’ by the National Council on Sports (NCS) after their two-day meeting held in Asaba as diversionary and accused the managers of the Nigeria’s sports sector of pursuing personal benefits.
Noting that while other serious countries like China, USA, Britain, Jamaica, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt and many other countries can read into the crystal ball to predict the number of medals they will win in Tokyo based on the advanced level of preparations that have gone into the Summer Games, Gara, said the same cannot be said of Nigerian athletes, who he quipped were at a loss as to where their next meal will come from, not to talk of thinking of what colour of medals they will win in Japan. He said instead of spending money amid the security risk in Benin and COVID-19 threat to hold the National Sports Festival that is primarily for discovering new talents, the funds should be channeled toward Team Nigeria’s preparation for the Tokyo Game. “With this Festival I know our preparation for the Olympics is in danger and serious threat. Very soon as usual the Ministry will start blaming the Presidency that money has not been released. Why not use the Festival money and open Camp for Olympics preparation ? he asked.
The renowned sports critics, however appealed to the minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, to stop playing politics with the country’s sports, saying he insisted on holding the Festival amid security threat in Benin and COVID-19 Concern would not be good for the country.
