TheCable

Just before the start of the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games, there was a plan to set up a Nigerian House Project, to be a rallying point for Nigerians at the games.

A check through the Olympic directory, as well as through the Team Nigeria officials, failed to produce any positive results.

The project was to rally those interested in Nigeria and individuals willing to know the economic potential that await possible investors.

Tony Ubani, spokesman of Team Nigeria at the games, said he never heard about the place since arriving in Rio de Janeiro.

“It’s really a shame that the brilliant idea did not materialise,” he said.

Meanwhile, Toyin Aluko, a former national handball team coach, has expressed regrets that since the 1992 Barcelona Games, handball has failed to make it to the games.

“As it is now, it will take a long while for the sport to make an impact,” she told NAN at the ongoing Olympic Games.

“The level has risen so much that the sport would need to be taken from the grassroots through the age groups. The world has left us behind. It will take a massive effort to re-start the sport.”

She noted that the sport took a nose dive after the likes of Ishola Williams and Lanre Glover, who were dedicated chairmen, left.

Aluko abandoned coaching for core administration after bagging a PhD in physical and health education.