BY DARE KUTI
2019 African Games bronze medallist, ELIZABETH ANYANACHO said three times Olympian, CHIKA CHUKWUMERIJE was instrumental to her Olympic qualification.
ANYANACHO defeated former African champion, URGENCE MOUEGA (Gabon) to secure a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the -67kg women’s weight class.
The national champion told www.aclsports.com that she listened to every instruction given to her by the Olympic bronze medallist, CHIKA CHUKWUMERIJE when she took on her opponent.
She said, “the fight against Urgence Mouega was amazing. I kept my cool from round to round, tried to keep calm so that I do not lose my head.
“I am grateful to my Coach, Chika Chukwumerije who helped me throughout the match and I listened to every word he ditched during my fight and I am happy I pulled through”.
She revealed that training will commence immediately the team arrives in Nigeria.
ANYANACHO said, “Immediately team Nigeria lands in the country from Morocco, I will commence training because the Olympics is not a joke; everyone wants to win a medal. I will also ensure I watch every clip of my coach before and after he won his bronze medal”.
ELIZABETH ANYANACHO, who is also the current national champion and the 2019 All African Games medallist, is a 300 level student of Statistics at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO).
Meanwhile, The President of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, MARGARET BINGA, has hailed the Minister for Youths and Sports, SUNDAY DARE, for his critical support for the National Taekwondo Olympic tickets, who recently secured an Olympic ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The quartet of ELIZABETH ANYANACHO, CHINAZUM NWOSU, IFEOLUWA AJAYI and BENJAMIN OKUOMOSE represented Nigeria in the female -67kg, -57kg, male -68kg and +80kg categories respectively of the just concluded African Qualification Tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Ministry had in 2019 announced that the country will support eleven sports, including Taekwondo, to participate at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Prior to the Olympic qualifiers in Morocco, the Sports Minister had intervened to ensure the team participates in the Fujairah Open, which was an important preparatory event leading up to the qualification.
BINGA referenced this critical intervention as a pivotal moment in the team’s eventual qualification for Tokyo 2020.“Our team’s participation at Fujairah really increased their confidence and gave the technical team the feedback they needed to tweak the team ahead of Morocco. I want to thank the Honourable Minister for putting actions to his words by supporting the team before and during the qualification.”
