The 2018 Commonwealth Games Contingent were on Wednesday sidelined at a ceremony inside the Banquet Hall of the presidential villa, Abuja, aclsports.com learnt.
The selected athletes from the ten participating sports who were to be handed over to the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) were left in a shock when there was no mention about the Commonwealth Games on the program list.
Instead, President Muhammadu Buhari received the CHAN Super Eagles, Bobsled team and the FIFA World Cup trophy to be competed for by qualified nations in Russia 2018.
An elated President Buhari wrote on his twitter handle, “I am proud to note that Nigeria is the first African country to qualify for the 2018 @FIFAWorldCup. The Federal Government will ensure that necessary support is given to facilitate preparations for successful participation of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in Russia”. – Pres. @MBuhari.
Reacting to the incident, the President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali vowed that non of the wrestlers will miss any training session with less than one month to the Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
He noted that a missed training session is forever lost.
He wrote, “A missed training session is forever lost. May Commonwealth Games bound athletes never miss two days of Practice ever again over ‘RECEPTION’ of any guise. Competition is less than 1 month away”!
Other athletes who spoke with aclsports.com on the condition of anonymity said, “No mention was made about Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Pure waste of time!
“It was a waste of time of everyone involved as far as I am concerned. The commonwealth Games was not even on the program. So sad but they gave us a tour round the villa”.
