TheCable

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports development, says sixty-one athletes will represent Nigeria at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The minister spoke on Monday at a plenary session with the national sports federations (NSF) for Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic at the Moshood Abiola Stadium.

Dare also disclosed that the team will depart to Japan, venue of the Summer Games, in two batches.

“As at today, Nigeria has qualified 61 athletes across 9 Sports for the Olympics, and 22 athletes in 4 Sports for the Paralympic Games, which are: Athletics-22, Badminton-3, Basketball-24, Canoe sprint-1, Gymnastic-1, Rowing-1, Taekwondo-1, TableTennis-1, Wrestling-1 which sums up to 61 and for Paralympic Games we have; Para Athletics-5, Para Powerlifting-10, power rowing-1, Para Table Tennis-6 summing up to 22,” Dare said.

“For the Olympic Games, the first batch of the athletes are scheduled to depart for Kisarazu on 6th July 2021 while the second batch departs on 13th July 2021. The paralympic Teams will depart in one batch on 8th August 2021.

“The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 affected the organisational structures of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This consequently pushed International Federations (IFs) to review their international sporting calendar and qualification pathway for athletes in their quest to participate at the Games.

“These challenges, no doubt were difficult to overcome, but could not stop us as a great nation in ensuring that our athletes are strongly supported and motivated to achieve this milestone.

“I must sincerely commend each and every one of you for your commitment and for standing together in this journey. Specifically, I thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his immense support in approving and ensuring that funds were released to enable our athletes attend series of qualification tournaments.

“The recent qualification of Nigeria for the Women’s 4x100m, Women’s 4x400m and 4x400m Mixed Relays was a significant achievement for the country, while still awaiting the World Athletics (WA) to ratify the slots in a few days.”

He assured that team Nigeria will also have adequate preparation before the Olympics start properly with a two weeks pre-games training in Kisarazu, Japan.

“The Ministry in collaboration with the Nigerian Olympic Committee has scheduled a 14-day Pre-Games Training Camp (PGTC) for the athletes in Kisarazu, Japan,” he added.

“This move is to further expose the athletes to adequate preparations ahead of their events as well as to give them ample time to adjust to the Japanese time zone. It is also strategic to meet with COVID-19
regulations.

“As the Games are gradually approaching, I feel it would be necessary for us to finalize on our strategies towards ensuring podium success at both the Olympics and the Paralympic Games.”

The postponed Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to commence on July 23 to August 8, 2021.