London 2012 Olympics: Nigeria is not going for jamboree -Suleiman

SPORTS Minister, Yusuf Suleiman has told all the Sporting Federations that the Country would only go to the Olympic Games with those sports that are potential medalists.Suleiman, who is also the Chairman, National Sports Commission, NSC, said that gone were the days when Nigeria only participated in the games for fun noting said that since 1957 when Nigeria started participating in the games, only two gold medals have been won till date.The Minister said: "We went to the All Africa Games in Maputo, and in some events, we did not win a single medal, and such an event may have qualified for the Olympic games, it would not be out of place if we now sit down here and have an appraisal of the all our Olympic sports, and take a decisive action which would be to the benefit of Nigeria sports. We are no longer going to games for participation, we are working towards increasing our medal hauls in the Games, and not just participating".He advised the various Federations to make their presentations very logical with backup facts.Meanwhile, sport writers who thronged the Media centre of the Abuja National Stadium for the event on Thursday, expressed curiosity over the absence of the Director General of the Commission Patrick Ekeji, especially when an Acting Director General in the person of Mustafa Mohammed was introduced to the gathering.Efforts made to get clarifications from the officials of the Commission proved abortive, but an unconfirmed source told Tribunesports that the DG Chief Patrick Ekeji was away on official assignment outside the country.
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