The President of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engr. Abu Gumel has predicted a good outing for Team Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July in Japan.
The NOC boss based his optimism on the programmes line up for the athletes by the Ministry of Youth and Sports as the countdown to the game continues.
Gumel also stated that his prediction is based on the Nigeria’s area of strength which the NOC and Sports Ministry are working on and would soon select athletes that would embark on training tour outside the shores of Nigeria.
“I must commend the Sports Minister Sunday Dare for his determination to ensure that Nigeria wins as many medals as possible in Tokyo. Very soon the minister will visit Tokyo to inspect accommodation for Team Nigeria and camping sites for training tour. The athletes that have qualified are intensifying their preparations,” Gumel said.
He expressed believe that athletics, despite the crisis, wrestling, boxing, basketball and weightlifting are medal hopeful for Team Nigeria but regretted Nigeria’s absence in the football event.
“I was terribly hit by the absence of our football teams (male and female) but most especially our male team. The host city Tokyo was looking forward to having our male football team knowing that our football pulls crowd.
“Even at our IOC meeting they were asking me what happened to our male team which I had no answer to. You know in our last Olympic Games, football gave us the only medal but now that footballers are not part of our contingent, I still believe that Nigeria’s outing this year will be better than the previous games.
The NOC President further revealed that the Nigeria Olympic Committee has forwarded Nigeria’s entry to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the host country.