By David Owei ,Baylesa<\/p>\n
Following Bayelsa’s emergence as champions of the first ever Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo, the President of Athletics Federation Nigeria, AFN, Chief Tonobok Okowa, has congratulated the state for its rising profile in athletics, which obviously was instrumental to their success at the festival.<\/p>\n
Recall that Bayelsa won a total of nine (9) medals in athletics, comprising of three(3) gold, five (5) silver, and one(1) bronze, while the Para-athletes garnered ten (10) medals – four (4) gold, three(3) silver and three(3) bronze, making it one it’s highest number of medals in athletics in recent times.<\/p>\n
Chief Okowa, who was speaking with newsmen shortly after the AFN\u2019s Extraordinary Congress held in Yenagoa on Thursday, urged the state to sustain their recent feat in athletics, assuring that the federation will now beam its searchlight on the state for rising talents that will make the country proud at subsequent events.<\/p>\n
The AFN President who also commended the initiative of the state Governor, Senator Douye Diri to build a new modern stadium, assured that the federation is working towards becoming the first to attract a major championship to the state, when the stadium is completed.<\/p>\n
“We have promised the Governor that when the stadium is ready, we will be coming here and I pray that athletics will be the first to use that stadium, by the Grace of God, and I can tell you that anytime there is any athlete we feel is good to be discovered, we will pick up that athlete, just as we are happy with one of your daughters in school, who is still making wave this year, that is Tima Godbless, so same thing we will do when we see more\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the resolution of the AFN congress attended by delegates across the country, Chief Okowa noted that an elective committee has been set up to plan and conduct the next Federation election billed for next month in Delta State.<\/p>\n
“We deliberated on a lot of matters, which of course you know that our electoral congress is already around the corner, so we looked into some grey areas in our constitution that will help fine-tune our electoral guidelines.”<\/p>\n
“We have appointed a seven-man electoral committee and a secretary. This committee will organize the elections and they will follow the guidelines as stipulated by the constitution.”<\/p>\n
“We also picked up dates, the zonal elections will come up between 14th and 16th of May, and that of the President, the first and second Vice President will come up on the 31st of May.”<\/p>\n
He noted that the current board under his leadership has done well judging by its achievements throughout its tenure, while emphasizing that the poor performance of Nigeria’s athletic contingent at the last Paris Olympics has been thoroughly looked into, with a view of ensuring that the country performs better at subsequent Olympics and other world championships.<\/p>\n
“This board has done a very good job. We had issues but we were able to surmount them. Though what happened in Paris was a shame to Nigeria. A lot of things went wrong, and I can tell you that we didn’t prepare like a country preparing for Olympics, because we didn’t have funds until two weeks to the Olympics, and what can we do at that point?”<\/p>\n
“Some of our athletes are abroad while others are here in Nigeria, we have just discovered about four young athletes and we have taken their names down for testing, and will follow them up between now and the World championships in May in Tokyo because that is what is next for Athletics now. We also have a championship coming up in May and that’s the world relays, and it will avail us the opportunity to qualify in all our relays for the next championship, so we pray that we prepare well, and the Sports Commission will help us prepare well so we rewrite all our wrongs.”<\/p>\n
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria President concluded by appreciating the Governor for all his doing for sports development in Nigeria, which among other things include the hosting of the Nigerian Olympic Committee NOC, Nigerian Referees Council NRA, and now the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Prior to the extraordinary congress the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, received board members of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, where he welcomed them to the state and wished the federation a happy and successful deliberations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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