Nigeria to begin Olympics preparation November — sports commission boss

The Director-General, National Sports Commission, Alhassan Yakmut, said on Monday that Team Nigeria’s preparation for the 2016 Olympics would begin on November 21.

Mr. Yakmut made this known while speaking with journalists in Abuja.

He explained that the mode of preparation for the Olympics would be different from the preparation for the All African Games.

“Already ground works have been concluded; right now we are making contact with the various centres where the preparation will be done.

“The preparation for Olympics is not going to be like that of the All Africa Games.

“There is no central point of collection of athletes except the last two weeks to the Olympics where all athletes in all the different sports that Nigeria will be participating in will be in a special camp in Rio and then, a day to the opening of the games village, we shall move.

“But our main strategy is that we are going to be spotless and we are going to be athlete-based.

“So, it’s possible to have six athletes in six different disciplines in athletics and they may not be camping in the same place.

“It depends on where the technical expertise and high quality of infrastructure and scientific support is.”

He said efforts were being intensified to stage the 2015 National Sports Festival which had now been postponed to 2016.

“2015 is winding-up sports wise and the latest information we have from stakeholders is that the National Council on Sports is been proposed for the last week of November and early December in Akwa Ibom.

“This is to decide the fate of National Sports Festival but it is obvious that the festival is going to be sometime in 2016.

“But the good news is that the NSC and the University of Ilorin have entered into an agreement for the hosting of the 2016/2017 editions of the National Youth Games.

“The plan is for it to take place in the premises of University of Ilorin where the athletes will enjoy facilities and accommodations free of charge.’’

(NAN)