President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali has stated that the road is still not clear for Nigerian wrestlers with three days to the commencement of the African wrestling championship which starts this week in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The Olympics Champion revealed that the National Sports Commission only approved N7.2 million from the N28 million budget submitted but that the Bayelsa state Government have promised to sponsor about 12 wrestlers meaning 16 of the eligible wrestlers could be what Nigeria will travel with for the Africa wrestling championship which serve as qualifiers for the World wrestling championship.
“The budget we had was about 28 million, the National Sports commission is approving N7.2 million that is in our budget, I was able to talk to the minister who stepped in and increased it to N10 million, which also means we can accommodate about 7 or 8 athletes. I had a meeting with the governor of Bayelsa state who have also approved that about 12 athletes especially the athletes that qualified from the state should also attend this tournament. As we speak now we are confident of sending about 16 out of 24 athletes to go to the tournament” he said.
He confirmed that the team currently does not have physical money but hopes that before Wednesday they should so they can go for the tournament well prepared.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
