Nigeria’s gymnastics contingent has received a huge opportunity that should see them train in Turkey ahead of next year’s Africa Games in Egypt as well as towards the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA.
Sports247 reports that this revelation was provided by the president of Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria (GFN), Prince Kelvin Erhunwunse, while serving details of an agreement he reached with Turkey’s corresponding governing body.
Erhunwunse also revealed packages for training of coaches, upgrading judges and hosting other African countries among many opportunities Nigeria will get from a loaded memorandum of understanding the GFN signed with Turkey’s gymnastics federation, with additional benefits.
The GFN president added that the benefits are coming to Nigeria after his successful participation at the Gymnastics World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, where he also spoke in his position as second vice-president of the Union of African Gymnastics (UAG) Zone 2.
He added that Turkey will also support Nigeria with equipment and development of a training centre that will benefit other African countries, while providing fresh opportunities for Nigerian coaches and judges to improve their technical knowledge.
Erhunwunse disclosed: “I was in Istanbul to sign a deal with the Turkish Gymnastics Federation. The deal is all about helping Nigeria with equipment. We also discussed building a centre where some African countries can come and camp.
“The main deal was the provision to train our coaches in all disciplines and a judge along with them. This will help us improve the technical standard of gymnastics in Nigeria.
“Turkey has granted us permission to prepare our athletes for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and the 2027 African Games in Egypt, where they will have the opportunity to train and compete with champions.”
GFN’s media director, Date Kuti added in a press release that Erhunwunse also used his presence at the World Congress in Thailand to reach agreements with officials from China, Japan and Azerbaijan regarding camping opportunities for Nigerian gymnasts.
Erhunwunse concluded, “I was able to establish full agreements with China, Japan and Azerbaijan to grant us the opportunity to bring our junior and senior athletes for camping for six months.
“What we need to do is provide funds for the athletes, while they will take care of the hotel accommodation and feeding. This is a big opportunity for us to expose our athletes to high-level training and competition.”
