Team Nigeria would be featuring
only in 11 sports at the Tokyo
2020 summer Olympics.
This much was disclosed over the
weekend by the nation’s minister of
Sports Sunday Dare who said Team
Nigeria is not going to Tokyo for a
jamboree.
“Nigeria will be competing in 11
sports as opposed to the 22 sports that
they took part in at the last Olympics.
Our target is to ensure that resources
are channelled to sports where the
country has comparative advantage.”
Dare stressed that the welfare of ath-
letes would come first as Nigeria strives
to better her performance in Rio 2016
where the country won only a bronze
courtesy of football.
“The welfare of the athletes remains
our priority and that is why we came up
with the Adoption Campaign which has
been quite rewarding. As I speak with
you, athletes have got their money from
their adopters. It is really an organic
process and ours, is to supervise the
process.”
On the readiness of Team Nigeria,
Dare stated: “Nigeria is ready for Tokyo
2020 and I say that because the team
has been preparing in the last four
years. What we now see is that level of
preparation that finally puts them where
they want to be in terms of training,
camping and in terms of the interna-
tional championships they need to really
attend to sharpen their skills. We are
working very hard to see that our funds
are released early enough to actualize
our dreams.”
