Youth and Sports Minister, Sunday Dare has revealed that Nigeria will participate in sports the country has the potential to win medals at the Commonwealth Games billed for Birmingham, England later in the month.
Dare who reiterated that Nigeria would be participating in nine sporting events confirmed that the country would be going with a small contingent unlike the previous norm due to financial constraints and also because the nation wants to leverage on sports it has the potential to do well.
He confirmed that the country’s sportsmen and women would go into close camping from the 9th of July in designated venues in the country and also in the United States to enable athletes studying in the North American country to prepare for the competition and as well as concentrate on their studies.
“There is a template and that ends with the national trials. It was why we insisted that all our athletes wherever they may be must come home and compete and earn their spots. It is the same thing for wrestling and weightlifting we have the open and close camping,” Dare disclosed.
“From the ninth of this month we are going to move all our athletes into camp and from that camp, they will move to Birmingham. We will be having two camps. Our athletes in America will have their camping there in order not to disrupt their studies.
“They will go to the World Championships from the camp and on the 24th or 25th of this month, we will move them to Birmingham. We are going to compete in nine sports in the Commonwealth Games. There are other logistics beyond the qualifiers but we are glad that we are putting our best forward.
“We decided that based on limited resources and very scientific analysis we will want to love to leverage on the sports we have our athletes in the top 15 in the world. The goal of going to the Commonwealth Games is for podium performance and not for rehearsal. We are going with a very small team. We just pray that these athletes don’t have any injuries or incidences. The preparation is still ongoing.”
