The president of Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi has promised that there will be more attention to grassroots development and youth empowerment programmes during his time in charge of the grapplers’ sport.
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Sports247 reports that Adeniyi gave the promise while declaring open this year’s Governor Douye Diri National Wrestling Classics in Yenagoa, Beyalsa State, where he added that the current NWF tenure’s focus is on youth programmes.
While pledging to continue promoting the discovery of young wrestlers all across the nation, Adeniyi also maintained that there will be priority in organising competitions, because wrestlers need more activities to stay in good shape.
Adeniyi, who doubles as comptroller-general of Nigeria Customs Service, praised the introduction of new events in this year’s edition of the wrestling championship, which is now in its fourth edition and includes beach bouts for the first time.
He then mentioned the introduction of Games Village, where contingents from the competing states are provided with free meals, and thanked Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, for his continuous sponsorship of wrestling programmes.
The NWF boss noted that Governor Diri has taken sports development higher in Bayelsa State, considering that the south-south territory also recently hosted the extraordinary general assembly of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Adeniyi said, “I congratulate His Excellency, Governor Douye Diri, that Yenagoa is fast becoming the Mecca of Sports in Nigeria. Our coming on the heels of the NFF AGM shows clearly that Yenagoa is firmly entrenched in the sports map.
“It is no longer news that our drive to develop wrestling is through grassroots and youth development programmes across the zones. We believe we will translate some of the visions we have into very concrete action and projected outcomes.
“We can say that wrestling is growing because it had a demonstration at the Nigeria University Games (NUGA) for the first time, which is a big deal for us; because we want to harness talent through that platform.”
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