Nigeria Taekwondo Team to the African Taekwondo Olympic qualifying games scheduled for Rabat, Morocco this weekend, may not attend the event following paucity of funds according to reports.
The team of four athletes (ELIZABETH ANYANACHO-female 67kg,CHINAZUM NWOSU- 53kg female, IFEOLUWA AJAYI-68kg male, BENJAMIN OKUOMOSE male 80kg) and nine persons which comprise the technical Director CHIKA CHUKWUMERIJE and National coach JOHN VICTOR, one medical officer, the president of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation MARGARET BINGA and secretary KABIR YUSUF are still in Abuja and yet to fly to Rabat ahead of the qualifier which starts on Friday 21 with the general weigh in ceremony.
The team which has procured visa needs 21,300 USD (Twenty one thousand, three hundred dollars), that is about N8million.
This money covers their Air tickets, accommodation, feeding, registration fees ;core competition protective gears and allowances.
The Federation who are yet to hear from the Sports Ministry after it pledged support, fear that fatigue might set in if the contingent delay further in Nigeria because of money and that it may cost the country the only and last chance of qualifying for Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Federation’s president MARGARET BINGA who heaped praises on the Minister MR. SUNDAY DARE for his commitment to assisting federations in achieving their Olympic target said “There are no flights to Morocco on Wednesday the 19 and it then means the athletes will travel on Thursday and land on the commencement day of Friday if money does not come early, and they might be tired”
She appealed to the Minister and well-meaning Nigerians to quickly come to the aid of the Nigeria Taekwondo Team.
In a related development, the country’s Badminton team to the Olympic qualifiers just concluded in Egypt lost out even after three of her athletes made it to the finals ,a situation attributed to fatigue because of late travels occasioned by delay in the issuance of visa by the Egyptian Embassy in Nigeria.
