Preparations have begun in earnest for Olympics Tokyo 2020, with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development the leaving no stones unturned as regards athletes welfare.
The Minister of Youth and Sport Development, MR SUNDAY DARE, who has always maintained that athletes welfare must be top priority if Nigeria hopes to record any success at the World event in Tokyo, who spoke on the successes of the Adoption Initiative, said, “The welfare of the athletes remains our priority and that is why we came up with the Adoption Campaign which has been quite rewarding. As I speak with you, athletes have got their money from their adopters. It is really an organic process and ours, is to supervise the process.
On the readiness of team Nigeria, he said, “Nigeria is ready for Tokyo 2020 and I say that because the team has been preparing in the last four years. What we now see is that state preparation that finally puts them where they want to be in terms of training, camping and in terms of the international championships they need to really attend to sharpen their skills.
“We are working very hard to see that our funds are released early enough,” he further assured.
The Minister also disclosed that Nigeria will be competing in 11 sports as opposed to the 22 sports that they took part in the last Olympics in order to ensure that resources are channelled where the country has comparative advantage.
He added that the athletes would be competing with the best in the world hence the need for early camping.
Below are the names of the Olympics bound athletes (qualified).
1. Ese Brume W Women’s long jump
2. Amusan Tobi W Women’s 100m hurdle
3. Blessing Okabare W Women’s 100m/200m
4. Divine Oduduru M Men’s 100m/200m
5. Raymond Okevwo M Men’s 100m
6. Utseorise Itsekiri M Men’s 100m
7. Chukwuemeka Enekechi M Men’s shot put
8. Adekuroye Odunayo M 57kg WW
9. Male Team(D’ tigers) M Men’s event
10. Female Team(D’ tigers) W Women’s event
11. Bello Ayomide W Women’s C1 canoe
12. Toko Esther W Women’s single sculls
13. Elizabeth Ayanacho W Taekwondo
