Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, has said every focus would be on the welfare of athletes at the ongoing 13th African Games in Ghana.
The media aide to the Minister, Kola Daniel, stated this during an interaction on an interview session held on Nigeria’s leading WhatsApp platform ‘Sports World’ on Tuesday.
Kola Daniel, while fielding questions on behalf of the Minister, noted that the focus of Senator John Owan Enoh is to see to the welfare of athletes and gives instant rewards to podium finishing ones. “Our athletes must be in the right frame of mind before the commencement of competition, during and of course after.” He posited
Kola added that the Minister went to some of the camps to see the athletes and had an interactive session with them even though some athletes are presently in Ghana to hoist the Nigeria flag high and the main target is to win the 13th edition of the competition
He further reiterated that Nigerians should be expecting medals as the team is going to surpass previous records at the tournament.
He hinted that the team has 358 athletes who are going to be jostling for medals for the country in 25 sports.
Mr Kola Daniel cited and believed that the team would have medals in sports like wrestling, football, table tennis, handball, and hosts of other sports at the tournament.
“Nigeria is a proud nation in the sporting activities and has led a formidable track for others to follow. Nigeria finished second position in the previous African Games, but we can do better this time around with the potential at our disposal in the country. Some athletes in Ghana right now are ready to die for Nigeria.”
“We came second in Rabat, Morocco, in 2019 behind Egypt. This time around, we have the potentials who are ready to die for their fatherland, so the preparation have been fantastic.” He noted.
The Ogbomosho-bred journalist concluded that the preparation has been fantastic as every athlete is looking towards countless podium performance, and that can also put smiles in the faces of sports lovers in the country.
“So the preparation have been fantastic, everyone is in the right frame of mind, everyone is looking towards a podium performance even as we await countless podium performance that can as well put smiles in the face of sports lovers and enthusiasts in the country” He concluded.
Nigeria came second behind Egypt in 2019 with 46 Gold Medals, 33 Silver, and 48 Bronze totaling 127 Medals. The opening ceremony of the 13th African Games is billed to take place from 8 to 23 of March, 2024, in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast
Leave a Reply