Director-general of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Honourable Bukola Olopade has declared that last week’s boxing trials in Lagos raised hope of many gold medals for the country at this year’s Commonwealth Games.
Sports247 reports that Olopade was quite excited with the level of organisation and high standard of fights on offer at Brai Ayonote Boxing Gym inside Lagos National Stadium complex, which he said was really impressive.
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While also hailing the presence of some of the country’s amateur boxers based abroad, Olopade thanked Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF) for organising a flawless week of progressive activities without any hitches.
The NSC’s DG added, “We want to thank the federation for putting up a trial that was devoid of acrimony. It was a trial for the Commonwealth Games, and it was very successful.
“One of the fears that we’ve often faced as administrators in combat sports has always been controversy that goes round points scoring and judgements at the end of various bouts.
“Fortunately, that did not happen in this competition, which is very remarkable for them. To crown their efforts, we saw a total of 147 boxers that entered the competition from the beginning.
“More importantly, we saw multiple boxers from the Diaspora. That fits easily into our strategy at the NSC in giving opportunities to our children who are based overseas to come back home and compete on a regular basis here in Nigeria.”
He concluded with a verdict that a lot of benefits have been gained from the 1st National Boxing Week, and the country will see the results not only at the Commonwealth Games but in many years to come afterwards.
“Nigeria can always boast of the best hands or legs, depending on the sport, to represent us internationally. We were not bored, we were really entertained and we had a lot of fun.
“More importantly, we enjoyed high standard fights in the ring. They were world class fights that produced top competitors who will represent Nigeria in the days ahead.
“We now expect them to put up even better efforts at the Commonwealth Games and give us gold medals,” said Olopade, who also expressed hope for more of such competitions from the NBF and other sports federations.
