FOLUSHO ALADE,ABUJA
The President of the Nigeria Archery Federation, MUHAMMED BABA ABDULAHI says he is satisfied with the progress made by the sport of Archery in Nigeria noting that in no distance future the Nation will begin to make her mark at the world stage.
Speaking to journalists at the closing ceremony of a workshop tagged ‘National Archery Training Workshop for Beginners and Capacity Building for Intermediate Archers’ organized in collaboration with the Defence Headquarters on Friday, ABDULAHI expressed joy with the performances of the participants stressing that he is now greatly encouraged that the game has a great future in the country.
According to him “I have not seen performances of this type in recent time. We have been training other fo9rces, we have been training other services, we have been training even the civil society, but this is quite explosive for Athletes who knew virtually nothing about this sports and we came in here and for them to be getting the target is quite awesome. He said.
“So, I will say this is bringing back the game to its natural environment and we are happy for these discoveries. I want to say categorically that with this performance and if we keep up the training then Nigeria will be central podium of major international tournament and even our individual championships as an Archery Federation.
“It’s quickly developing because as we speak today and like I said this is the second time the arm forces would be participating and this is the first time the Arm Forces will be hosting.
“We had other championships, we’ve had other training programs with the Nigeria Police, and we’ve had with the Immigration, Prisons and Road Safety. Full capacity attendance, but this one comes with a difference.
“ This one comes with a difference because we know we have trained people for about seven months without them hitting the bull’s eye. But for you to train people for under two to three days and they are already hitting the bull’s eye, I mean it’s a miles stone.
“Having said that, we have also gone into schools, in Lagos we have clubs, the Police also have the Police Archery Association. I mean the Game is fast gaining ground in Nigeria. We only need to harmonize what we have now and be able to move forward and hit the world podium soon,” he concluded.
The 5-day capacity building workshop had in attendance over 100 participants across the three arms of the armed forces.
