The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare showered praises on three sports federations, basketball, badminton and weightlifting for making the country proud in recent international competitions.
The Minister who received the sports federations in his office separately charged them to keep up with the hard work that led to the accomplishments.
During the meeting with the Musa Kida led basketball federation, the minister said the meeting was “significant because the Basketball Federation is the first team sport to win an Olympic ticket to Tokyo 2020.
“We’ve also witnessed a number of strings of successes of both the female and the male basketball teams.
“We will have a conversation around what their plans are regarding the three qualifiers for the female that is remaining as well as the campaign and training plans for the male team that have already qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
In his response, the NBBF president said the various leagues were on course while announcing the commencement of the Men’s Premier League in October which will enable Nigeria to present a team for the newly introduced FIBA Africa/NBA African championship.
In his meeting with Weightlifting Federation board, Dare was full of high praises for the successes recorded by the federation. He praised the president of the federation Yahaya Mohammed who promised to deliver 15 gold medals at the just concluded All Africa Games in Morocco but exceeded his promise to deliver 16 gold medals.
“So let me thank you for making us proud in Morocco. Weightlifting is one of the sports where we expect to bring glory. “We hope that we can get medals there. It is possible because for weightlifting you know what you are going to lift already. Let me say that the ministry will support you,” he said.
In the same vein, Dare in the third meeting of the day with the Badminton Federation led by Francis Orbih, said there are plans to introduce Athletes Grants for the upkeep of athletes.
He also committed himself to support the federation with funds that could be sourced from the National Lottery Funds. In his own remarks, Orbih requested for refresher courses for the technical department to put them at par with their international colleagues.
