Nigeria still hopeful despite table tennis, boxing exit

[MI5]

August 1, 2012 by Agency Reporter


http://www.punchng.com/news/london-game ... xing-exit/

Did some editing in terms of putting paragraphs in the article... Expected much better from the Punch guys- MI5...

Although some members of ‘Team Nigeria’ are gradually crashing out of the ongoing London Olympic Games, some top officials still appear confident of winning medals, including gold.




The ageing table tennis team talked tough, praising their preparedness for the Games, but in one fell swoop, they were eliminated even before the competition could barely get off to a real start, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
It was not surprising that a once dominant team in the African continent was no longer a team to reckon with, as it was now struggling to match the guts of Egyptian teams that it once dominated for more than two decades in the African continent.
While the North Africans were struggling to build on a solid foundation, Nigeria was rather deluding itself that it was still the medium regional power in the sport.





Mitchell Obi, a Lagos-based sports pundit, said in an interview that Nigeria started failing to arrest the decline the moment the Egyptians started to match the pace of the West Africans in the sport.
According to him, while the Egyptians and indeed their North African neighbours were raising their level of challenge, the Congolese, went for the Chinese, not only seeking their technical support but adopting their nationals to star for them.
Although it was a virtue to build on longevity of players like Segun Toriola for a place in a Olympic team, if the country still had the right type of programme in place to breed more players, but a complete reliance on old war horses to sustain the dominance in a dynamic, where a player could hardly maintain a top rating for far too long, would be counterproductive.





According to a source close to the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, who pleaded anonymity, it was foolhardy to continue to parade veteran players like Toriola and Funke Oshonaike in a sport, where youthfulness and evolving techniques were very important.
“There are no sentiments in raising teams to high profile events such as the Olympics. There is no way, a two-month preparation can make up for a four-year intensive preparation.
“If we must get it right, we must be sincere with a rebuilding process. We must raise the level of our coaching content. It has been in decline for some time. We need to under study the Chinese, who are currently masters of the sport,” he said.
A Manchester-based Nigerian table tennis follower, Johnson Abejide, who took a holiday to be in London for the Games, said the age of miracles is over.





“It appears that only Africans and indeed, Nigerians rely on sentiments and reputation to raise its team to the Olympic Games,” he said.
Oshonaike, attributed her exit to the growing influence of the Chinese in the sport. She added that she felt frustrated having to meet the Chinese competing for many nations.
“Can she really question any sovereign nation’s reasons for choosing a pattern it wants to adopt, to run its sport,” was a question from Nneka Aduba, a London-based Nigerian, who was driven by patriotism to root for Nigeria, only to be disappointed at the easy exit of the country’s table tennis stars.





It is hard to pin the actual reasons for the crash. In one breath they claimed that the pre-Games build-up was poor, yet a few others insisted the build up was adequate.
Under such a situation, it would obviously be impossible to really identify the reasons for the rapid crash, witnessed in table tennis, boxing and basketball.



No official appears to want to offend the Government by choosing to respond to what appears to be an officially made up response, “the National Sports Commission, in conjunction with federations, ensured good pre-Games preparations,” NAN reports.




This is ironical, because in the build up to the Games, federations claimed that they could not commence training because because of the failure by the NSC to release funds, for the start of the preparations.
The NSC, through its effective propaganda, explained that the late release of funds was a result of delays in the passage of the 2012 budget into law by the two arms of the National Assembly.




The National Assembly, on the other hand, claimed that the Executive arm of government was to blame for late presentation of the budget estimates to the parliamentarians.
In all of these, the athletes appear to be at the receiving end. They are the ones expected to win medals, even when it was obvious, they were not adequately prepared – they could not commence preparations because their federations could not find funds to embark on preparations. They could not also find funds to prepare for qualifications, for those, particularly, team events.



It is against this backdrop that some analysts, sports buffs and some Nigerians have warned that unless all stakeholders decide to be forthright in considering and not openly and dispassionately seeking discussing the problem, to find a solution, then the solution to the problem of sports development would remain a mirage.
Perhaps the only time the country admitted to the real reasons for the failure, would only be at the end of the Games, when there could have been obvious reasons that the country failed to produce medals.


[b]In all of these, the athletes were left to lick their wounds, their failure to impress. Jonathan Akinyemi, Nigeria’s first Olympic slalom canoe competitor, had yet to come to terms with his unsuccessful bid to move ahead in the men’s kayak K1 event.
The 23-year-old, who struggled with financial aid from his father to qualify, it was learnt, only succeeded in being the first Nigerian to have scored a first, to compete for the country. The athlete was devastated at his failure to advance to the semis.
The secretary of the Canoeing Federation, Bunmi Oluode, was said to have confirmed that Akinyemi was still devastated at his loss.[/b]


“It’s a sad one for us and for Akinyemi. He is still bemoaning his loss as he had yet to come to terms at his failure to make a strong impact,” Oluode was quoted as having said.
“We have told him to look at the positive sides of being a worthy representative of the country – trail-blazer for Nigeria at the London Games,” he added.


But Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, who watched Akinyemi as he struggled against the massive violent waters, described the athlete’s efforts as soul-lifting.
He stressed, “I’m proud of his efforts. You needed to see his bravery against the turbulent waters, to appreciate the effort he tried to exert to be a worthy ambassador of the country at the Games.
“He has started something that will obviously open doors for other Nigerians in the sport.”



Many Nigerians who were still keeping their hopes alive for medals appear to be relying mainly on athletics that had yet to start, pinning their hopes on the country’s lone rising star in the sport – Blessing Okagbare, for medals.
President of Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Solomon Ogba, whose federation rescued at difficult times at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, and the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, promised that his team would do their best.

"I am not promising anything extraordinary. All I want to see here is for our athletes to get to the semi-final stages of their different events. From there, anything can happen,” Ogba stated.


Nigerians in London, though appreciate the difficulty being faced in hunting for medals, by a team that might not have been adequately prepared, are nevertheless, expecting medals from athletics, taekwondo and wrestling, from where the medals had come from in the past.[/b]

[Guv007]

“There are no sentiments in raising teams to high profile events such as the Olympics. There is no way, a two-month preparation can make up for a four-year intensive preparation.

Right there is how we prepare for most events and we feel or think we can beat those who have been preparing much longer.

[soothsayer]

“There are no sentiments in raising teams to high profile events such as the Olympics. There is no way, a two-month preparation can make up for a four-year intensive preparation.

Right there is how we prepare for most events and we feel or think we can beat those who have been preparing much longer.

kpom , it was that statement that leaped out at me about how we treat sports in Nigeria.

[wanaj0]

“There are no sentiments in raising teams to high profile events such as the Olympics. There is no way, a two-month preparation can make up for a four-year intensive preparation.

Right there is how we prepare for most events and we feel or think we can beat those who have been preparing much longer.

The fans are the worst culprit. We only remember the sports during major competitions.

[Guv007]

“There are no sentiments in raising teams to high profile events such as the Olympics. There is no way, a two-month preparation can make up for a four-year intensive preparation.

Right there is how we prepare for most events and we feel or think we can beat those who have been preparing much longer.

The fans are the worst culprit. We only remember the sports during major competitions.

No it's the Associations and officials where most just want a free holiday from the events.