The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has declared that 94 athletes and 21 officials will represent Nigeria in nine sports at the incoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Director of Federal Elite Athletes Department (FEAD), Simon Ebhojhaiye, who addressed journalists in Abuja yesterday, implored Nigerians to expect great performance from the athletes.
“The Ministry of Sports will present 94 athletes and 21 accompany technical personnels that have qualified through several qualification competitions overseas to carry the banner of Nigeria to the Games.
These competitions as well as the open camping, which led to international events, have dovetailed into a close camp for team Nigeria in the cities of Abuja, Lagos and Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
Athletics, Boxing, Para Athletics, and weightlifting will camp in Abuja while Table Tennis, Para table, parapowerlifting, and Judo will have their closed camping in Lagos. Yenagoa, Bayelsa State will be the camp venue for Wrestling.
“These camps will run until Nigeria staggered departure to the Games in Birmingham beggining from 22nd July.
“This is done to get their passports and other documents ready ahead of the competition and also fine-tune their preparations. They have been in open camping for a very long time.
Weightlifting for instance have camped weightlifters for the past three months in Kogi state while in Yenogoa wrestlers have been in open camp since May.
“The winning bonuses and allowances of the athletes have been approved and at the appropriate time they will get the money without stress,” he concluded.
