Sports Minister soft-pedals on AFN crisis

Peace may be in the offing on the crisis rocking the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) as the forward-looking Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare is championing a resolution to the feud.

To douse the tension pervading the athletics family in the country, the minister has constituted a Crisis Resolution Team (CRT) to look into the AFN crisis.

In a message on his Twitter handle, Dare said: “I will be announcing shortly the constitution of a Crisis Resolution Team (CRT) to look into the AFN crisis. The interest of Nigeria and her athletes trumps every other consideration at this point.”

Meanwhile, Dare has pledged his unflinching support to some young gymnasts after visiting their training session at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

The Minister expressed his pleasure at seeing committed young gymnasts within the age of three to 12 years, saying they are Nigeria’s hope of winning laurels in gymnastics in the future: “This is a process. You are catching them young and that is what we at the Ministry are trying to do in sports in general. The kids will do great things in the nearest future.”

The gymnasts’ coach, Tony Asuquo, said the budding gymnasts can compete and win medals for Nigeria anywhere in the world. “With the levels we have here, they can compete in the US, Russia and any anywhere in the world to win medals. We are looking forward to next year’s National Sports Festival (NSF) to see them compete there.”