The Honourable Minister of
The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports
Development, Mr Sunday Dare has urged the Nigerian Weightlifting
Federation to sustain and toll the path of success and achievements
made at the just concluded 12th African Games, Morocco
in the forthcoming Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020.
2. The Minister made this known
when the Federation, led by its President, Hon. Yahaya
Mohammed were on hand to brief the Minister in Abuja.
3. ‘’I thank the federation for
making Nigeria proud at Morocco, the reward for hard work is more
work, now that the Olympic is in sight, weightlifting is one
of the sports we expect to bring us glory and we hope that possibly
we can get medals there, because for weightlifting, its a bit
predictable when compared to other sports’’, Mr Dare stated.
4. Speaking in clear terms as the
federation prepares for Tokyo Olympics, the Minister urged the
coaches not to interfere with the selection process of athletes and
the need to be very objective.
5. This is very important because
‘’our dream for weightlifting wining medals at the Olympics is big,
government will support the federation towards preparation
for the championships and tournaments because they are critical to
our success in Tokyo 2020,’ he added.
6. On the issue of funding of the
federation, Mr Dare said that though, there are funding challenges,
but we will see how we can work together to realise each other’s
goals and objectives.
7. Earlier in his remarks, the
President of the Nigerian Weightlifting Federation Board, Hon.
Yahaya Mohammed, appreciated the Honourable Minister and the
Ministry for the unflinching support and encouragement accorded the
federation, especially at the recently concluded 12th African Games
in Rabat, Morocco.
7. Hon. Mohammed thereafter
solicited for the support of the Honourable Minister for funding to
ensure that the weightlifting federation participate and contest
with clean wins in the remaining championships and qualifiers
for Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.