Former African and Commonwealth table tennis champion, Atanda Musa has spoken on the.need for increased funding for sports to enable Nigerians win more laurels for the country. He stated this Tuesday at the knockup Hall of the National Stadium Surulere Lagos at the one day table tennis tournament organised by Atanda Musa table tennis foundation. According to the two time Olympian, apart from adequate funding there is also need to appoint competent people with sports background to manage the country’s sports even as he stated that Military Administration invested in sports development more than the current Civilian regime is doing. ”
When I was playing in the 80’s during the Military regime, they loved sports and invested heavily in it. In those days the tennis hall was well taken care of and we never lacked equipment to train with but it’s surprising that the civilian admiration is not showing that type of interest in sports development. ” For our sports to grow and our sports men and women achieve podium finish at international competitions, there is need for more funding for sports by government .

Not only this, government must ensure that only competent persons with sports background are appointed as Sports Minister or Directors. ” I have been living in the United States for more than 20 years and over there they make sure that only competent persons are appointed to handle their sports which accounts for their athletes doing well globally and that’s what I want our government to do”, he stressed, He posited that now that the All African Games is around the corner, there is need for government to ensure adequate provision of training equipment and conducive camping environment for the country’s athletes to excel in the continents version of the Olympics.
Musa who said his foundation organised the one day tournament as his own way of giving back to the society, advised athletes to take their training serious and stay off drugs because it’s capable of ruining their career. ” I organised this tournament in order to keep the players busy and give back to the society that made me. When I came back, I was baffled with the level of decay in the tennis hall and lack of adequate tournament for the players. So, I decided to organize the competition as my little way of contributing to the development of the game. ”
My advise to our athletes is that they should not be discouraged but keep on training because there is always light at the end of the tunnel. They should also be disciplined and keep off performance enhancing drugs which is capable of ruining their career. ” In the United States where I have been living for the past 20 years, I have been working with JP Morgan chase in New York and my self discipline has made me a good ambassador of the country there and I want our athletes to imbibe that type of discipline,” he concluded.