Sports
African Tennis: Oshonaike blasts Dalung over Nigeria’s elimination
Nigeria and Africa female tennis star, Funke Oshonaike has carpeted the Nigeria Sports Ministry led by Barrister Solomon Dalung for neglecting the country’s team to the ongoing ITTF African Senior Championship holding in Agadir, Morocco.
Oshonaike who was furious over Nigeria’s elimination due to the non-availability of the country tennis player at the tournament, said she cannot continue to spend her money to represent the country.
The Germany-based star who bankrolled her trip to Morocco lamented that the attitude of those in charge of sports is killing the morale of athletes from other sports.
“They were able to make money available for the Super Eagles who are not even ranked number one in Africa to play World Cup qualifiers while we could not attend what serves as 2017 and 2018 World Championship qualifiers.
“This is very discouraging for me particularly looking at what table tennis did at Rio Olympic Games. Aruna Quadri has been sponsoring himself to major competitions in readiness for Tokyo 2020 without any support and this for me is very discouraging for the athlete. I think I have lost hope in Nigerian sports particularly those in charge of sports who have continued to play lip service to development of other sports apart from football,” Oshonaike rued.
“How can players continue to use their money to represent their country? This is not too good at all. That I was able to sponsor myself to the championship does not mean I have the money to throw away. For me, I am only doing it to encourage the young ones and the President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi has tried his best in the last three years, and I think he needs the encouragement of those in the Ministry of Sports.
“For me, I don’t believe in Nigerian sports again because those in charge seem not to understand what they are supposed to do and it is just painful that it is the athletes that will continue to suffer this,” she added.
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