The technical director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Navy Commodore [link id=”148″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Omatseye Nesiama” target=”_blank”], has declared that the recent successes for Nigeria in continental athletics championships are no fluke but dividends of concerted efforts by the Federation as well as other concerned government sports institutions.
The AFN technical chief was speaking on the backdrop of the latest achievement in Mauritius where Nigeria finished tops to complete victories in the CAA Africa Youth, Junior and Senior athletics championships
“I thank God once again for giving us victory in the [junior] championship; topping the medals table with nine gold, seven silver and three bronze medals,” said Commodore Nesiama.
“This makes me very happy that in my time as Technical Director, we have won the continental championships at the senior, junior and youth levels. It cannot be a fluke that this has happened within the space of one year.
“There is something that is definitely good in what we are doing whether we want to accept it or not. We also recognise that there is still a lot of room to further improve on our performances in all departments of the sport.”
Going forward Nesiama stated that he planned take off of the High Performance Centres in the country is a sure good step to achieve more successes in the years ahead and that all hands must be on deck to make the imitative a huge success.
“I am calling on the NSC to step up the processes of appointing a National Performance Director and other Sport’s specific Performance Directors as a matter of urgency. We in the AFN already have a reasonably good foundation laid for such persons appointed to build up on.
“The technical committee under my leadership is rearing and ready in all respects to work perfectly within the context of the High Performance system for the enhancement of our sports, ” he added.
Have Your Say: Do you think what the Technical Director said had merits or was Nigeria was just lucky to have very good athletes at this time? Leave a reply below.
Meet The Authors
Mr Eludini is a Nigerian-based journalist and news researcher with a passion for athletics and football. Tunde is a staff reporter for Premium Times newspaper, and also a regular contributor to AthleticsAfrica.
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