National female champion, Ogunsanwo Aderonke (-50Kg) on Sunday said her major aim at National Karate Championship is to begin preparations ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Aderonke told aclsports.com that her attendance at the championship is not to win the gold medal alone.
“It is my dream to represent Nigeria at the Olympics. I’m working towards going for more tournaments after the National Championships which includes the World Karate Federation (WKF) K1 Premier in UAE and possibly the world championship next year”, she said
“Karate is an integral part of my life. I cannot spend a day without training for at least one hour,” Aderonke said.
“It means a lot to me because every athlete’s biggest dream in this world is to become an Olympian,” Adronke said after training on Sunday morning.
She also indicated interest in representing Nigeria at the 2019 All African Games in Equatorial Guinea.
The Hajiya Zainab Saleh International Female Karate gold medalist disclosed that athletes had few championships this year and that is a bad thing for athletes that train hard. “Training without championships is a great setback. If the federation wants the best for her athletes, they have to organise regular competition for us to be fit”, she added.
Aderonke attended last year’s World Karate Federation (WKF) Karate1-Premier League in UAE with three other Nigerians, Ogene ifeanyi, Asone Rita and Ocholi Ameh.
The venue of the national open championship is the Abuja national stadium from November 21st to 25th, 2017.
