Nigeria to ‘focus on’ only 11 out of 33 sports at Tokyo Olympics —Sports Minister

Team Nigeria would only participate in 11 out of 33 sporting activities at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, according to the nation’s Ministry of Sports.

This was revealed by the Minister, Sunday Dare, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media), John Joshua-Akanji, on Wednesday in Abuja.

Dare said Team Nigeria will not ho to Japan next year only to complete the numbers, but to compete and win medals.

The Tokyo Olympics was meant to hold in the summer of 2020, but was postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Games are now barely six months away.

For this, the Minister said preparing within the short period available before the Games will be the focus of the ministry, as four camps have already been set up for athletes.

“The Olympics is less than six months away and we have started camping our athletes to get them to full fitness ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

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“We have four camps in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Akure, and Lagos. From next year we will commence more robust camping with some athletes going abroad to train with their foreign-based counterparts,” he added.

Dare said the early camping which is in stages will be intensified with all the COVID-19 protocols put in place.

“The first camping exercise was in Pankshin, Plateau State, while the second phase camping ended on December 24, 2020. Lagos, Bayelsa, Port Harcourt, and Abuja were the locations for the second phase.

“We started the Pre-Olympics camping early to ensure that the Athletes that will be representing the country in the Tokyo Olympics put up podium performances.

“We need to compete with other nations to win and not to complete the numbers. We have decided to focus on 11 sports where we have comparative advantage,” added Dare.

In the past, Team Nigeria is usually represented in all the sports where they qualified, and mostly they return without making a podium finish.

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