Coach of Nigeria Taekwondo team, John Victor has called on the sports minster, Sunday Dare to revive the training tours of sports in Nigeria
Victor told www.aclsports.com that sports can be great under the watch of the minister if athlete gets the opportunity to compete outside the country regularly.
He said, “I have read a little about him and he is obviously an intelligent person, exposed and enlightened person. I will advise him in addition to everything from great men will be telling him that sports under him can be as great as he can imagine even beyond his imagination if they invest in these young athletes; not just training but going out to compete.
“Exposure is sports now. Taekwondo is a Korean sport and as I speak with you, Korea goes to Britain and Europe for training tours because sports now is about exposure; even the owners of the sport go for tours.
“Under his administration, I want to believe that he will give more opportunities for sports men to go for training tours”.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) officer expressed delight in the performance of his athletes but instead they could have performed better if they had the chance going for training tours.
He said the original owners of Taekwondo (the Koreans) now engage in training tours to broaden their horizons and to study their opponents
He said, “I feel good because the athletes really put in a lot to achieve this feat at the same time even though it is a mixed feeling since we did not up it compared to the last African Games. Sports have moved up; Africa has woken up and a lot of people know that Taekwondo is about participation.
He further said, “I feel good these athletes came to the games with little or no previous tournament just a few of them had the opportunity of competing outside the shores of the country this year. All we did was to keep and train them in the country but from the results in this tournament you can see that countries that spend more on athletes going abroad to compete and comeback are making more medals than others who stay at home and prepare.
“I am happy with the athletes’ performances but unhappy with the general medal”.
Nigeria Taekwondo Federation won 1 gold and 5 silver at the just concluded 12th African Games in Morocco.
