TheCable

Nigeria’s Consul General in Shanghai, Ayo Otepola, has backed the decision of the country to withdraw from the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

Nigeria athletes are in China for the Youth Olympics but they have been quarantined and barred from training because of the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.

And this has forced a withdrawal of Team Nigeria from the competition.

“Nigeria is not a country of origin in the outbreak of the Ebola virus, the circumstances of the first index case was from a Liberian-American who brought the virus to Nigeria,” Otepola told NAN.

“I congratulate the Nigeria Olympic Committee here on how they have handled the issue and I will be in Nanjing on Friday to coordinate our withdrawal.”

Otepola, who was in Shanghai to receive the team when they arrived in China on August 12, said medical checks by the Chinese authorities on all the athletes and officials at the point of entry showed no sign of exposure to Ebola virus yet the team was prevented from training like other athletes participating in the competition.

“Considering the age of athletes, they are very young and many of them were travelling out of the country for the first time, I think they were psychologically affected by what they met in China.

“I won’t really say they were stigmatised because the Chinese authorities had informed us of their plans to screen visitors from the affected West Africa countries with confirmed cases of Ebola,” he said.

Team Nigeria registered to participate in athletics, wrestling and beach volleyball with twelve athletes in the Youth Olympics which will start on August 16 and last for ten days.