• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 05 / 10 / 2011

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Jude Opara. 10 May 2011. Abuja — The National Sports Commission (NSC) has concluded arrangements that will see Nigerian athletes for the 10th All Africa Games train in South Korea and Cuba as well as some European countries.

Director General of the NSC, Dr. Patrick Ekeji who disclosed this in a chat with Champion Sports said the training tour which is billed to put the athletes in proper shape both physically and mentally for the contest will last for at least 50 days before they arrive in Maputo, Mozambique for the games which will take place in September.

Ekeji also revealed that at the moment all the athletes that will be representing Nigeria at the games which she won in Abuja in 2003 are in various camps in the country.

"We have been preparing ahead of the games here in Nigeria, but the training tour will assist the athletes and officials to strategize. It is the determination of the Commission to surpass the 9th edition held in Algeria in 2007." Stated the Director General who added that Nigeria hopes to improve on the achievement of the last edition where she came 4th.

He further revealed that the Sports Commission have registered a total of 422 athletes and 50 officials for the 18 sports which she hopes to excel in at the games even as he explained that the NSC has been able to select the best athletes following their performances in the various competitions and qualifiers for the championship.

According to Ekeji, the choice of the training tours was considered after a careful evaluation of the facilities which they provide n relation to the spots that Nigeria will be competing for at the championship.

"We took cognizance of the facilities which these countries possess, for instance, most combat sports like judo, karate and taekwondo will train in South Korea, while other sports like boxing will be sent to countries like Cuba where they can utilize the facilities for results as their standard would be used to measure the performances of athletes during the games".

The DG, also lamented the inability of the various sports federations to attract sponsors for the games saying it is a very big irony that whereas nobody seems to be interested when any national team is preparing for an event, but the corporate world will be falling over themselves to identify with the teams when they win laurels.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201105100880.html