TAEKWONDO was one of the few successful sports in Nigeria's participation at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The sport, which featured only two athletes in Beijing -Chika Chukwumerije and Issah Mohammed Adam - won a bronze medal for the country.Going into this year's Games, Chukwumerije and Adam will again fly the country's flag in London, being the only fighters to qualify for the tourney. But even with only two entrants, the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) says it will do better than the bronze medal it won four years ago.Fielding questions in Lagos over the weekend, NTF President, Jonathan Nnaji, said the athletes were better prepared for the Games than they were in 2008, adding that the federation, partnering the National Sports Commission (NSC), took time to plan the athletes' programme to ensure successful outing in London.'We are lucky to have an NSC Director-General, Patrick Ekeji, who knows what it takes to prepare athletes for a big competition like the Olympics,' Nnaji said. 'We also have the father of modern Nigerian taekwondo, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, a sixth-degree black belt holder, supporting us in all our programmes.'So, unlike what obtained before now, our athletes have enjoyed first class treatment in their preparation for the Games. The boys are training very well using the type of facilities they will experience in London. Remember, these players have featured in many past international events, so they are used to the rules and rudiments of this type of tournament.'You should as well remember that our heavyweight, Chika Chukwumerije, is an Olympic bronze medallist, who was robbed of the gold medal by bad officiating at the last Games. We are wiser now, so we are going into the Games prepared for whatever we will encounter there.'Nnaji agrees that Team Nigeria started preparations for the Olympics very late, which might affect the general performance of the country's contingent to London. The popular belief is that for an athlete to win an Olympic medal, he must prepare for at least two years before the competition.'The lateness has to do with the system because it is only in Nigeria that funds for Olympics preparation are released in the year of the tournament. In other countries, Olympic preparations start at the end of every Olympic tournament,' he noted.'We believe there must be attitudinal and systematic changes in the budgetary provisions for us to be at par with other countries. All the same, the NSC has done well with the lean resources at its disposal.'He added: 'This situation not withstanding, the NTF is ready for an outstanding outing thanks again to the goodwill of Senator Chukwumerije, who funded our early training tour before the official release of funds. This same gesture helped us during the last Beijing Olympics preparation.'He revealed that the athletes to represent Nigeria at London Olympics were currently outside the country, adding that they were all focused on the task of doing Nigeria proud at the Games. Nnaji disclosed that the taekwondo team would return to the country to join the rest of Team Nigeria contingent for the trip to London.On Senator Chukwumerije's influence on Nigerian teakwondo, Nnaji said it would have been difficult for the NTF to prepare for the Games without the lawmaker's assistance. According to Nnaji, 'Senator Chukwumerije is a seasoned taekwondo practitioner and not only that, he is very passionate about the sport and that is why all his children are taekwondo practitioners and champions.'Remember, one of his sons, not Chika, won a gold medal in Maputo during the last All Africa Games and the senator was there live supporting the Nigerian team. This has always been his style, even when I was competing.''One good thing about this Olympics is that we will be using electronic body protector, which transfers your points automatically to the scoreboard. So, there will be very limited cheating in terms of officiating, unlike what we had in Beijing where manual scoring techniques was used. My team has worked hard to do better than it did in Beijing, but we still need Nigerians' support to achieve our target.'Nnaji is worried that Corporate Nigeria has not identified with taekwondo, saying that identifying with the sport has many benefits for the private sector. According to him, 'in other parts of the world, sports sponsorship is not left for government alone. Over N100 million is spent on an athlete preparing for a tournament of Olympics magnitude.'As I talk to you, some countries have started preparing their Team B for the Brazil Olympics of 2016, while their Team A will join immediately after the London Games.'My suggestion is that the Federal Government should emulate other countries by embedding Olympics funds into the annual budgets, instead of the fire brigade arrangement we are used to in the Olympic years. In this way, Nigeria will prepare and do well not only in Olympics, but also in other sporting events.
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