A seasoned coach and board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Olalekan Soetan is staying cautious and refrained from scolding officials who brought the nation’s kit that many athletes have condenmed at the ongoing world championship in Tokyo, Japan.
Sports247 reports that Soetan spoke against the backdrop of complaints over poor quality of the kit as raised by women’s hurdles’ world record holder, Tobi Amusan, but the tactician stopped short of pointing accusing fingers at anyone.
Rather than take a swipe at the officials for providing low quality attires for the athletes, Soetan disclosed that he is not even with the contingent in Tokyo, hence his inability to make any categorical statement on the matter.
He admitted that, as a board member, he has a part to play in arriving at such critical decisions, but quickly pointed out that he got everything right when he was involved in supplying kits that were used for the recent African Youth Athletics Championship in Abeokuta.
Soetan affirmed, “I could say that I’m in the middle of the whole thing and, if I say I am happy, then I’d be lying. As for those who decided to choose such kit for them, I should say they have their reasons.
“So, I would not want to query them for taking that decision. I am not with them in Tokyo, but during the under-18 and under-20 competitions in Abeokuta, I was responsible for getting the kits from the former president, who gifted the AFN those Puma kits.”
Soetan concluded by weighing the possibility of some corporate and branding issues that could have led to the low quality material that was supplied for the contingent to Tokyo, though they had enough of the Puma kit that was used in Abeokuta.
“For those Puma kits, we got enough that could go round for our teams. But, this time around, I believe someone might be thinking of the future. We don’t have a deal with Puma, but I know the NSC is working hard enough to get Nigeria a sponsorship package.
“As for those kit from Puma, some of them are $100 each, which means a lot these days in Nigeria. It means they are expensive. So, those who took the decision in Tokyo must have had their own reasons for doing so,” Soetan submitted.
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