LESS than five months to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the board of the Nigeria Rowing,
Canoe and Sailing Federation is confident that Team Nigeria will not come back
home without a medal after the London 2012 disastrous outing.
The secretary of the federation, Olubunmi Ola-Oluode
while speaking in Lagos on Friday assured Nigerians who are anxious over the
reoccurrence of London 2012 Olympics where Team Nigeria had no medal to their
name that, with divine providence on their side coupled with the hard work
already being put in place by the duo of Chierika Coco Ukogu and Jonathan
Akinyemi, Nigerians should expect at least a medal.
In her words, “With the situation on ground, we have one
athlete that has qualified for Canoe Slalom in person of Jonathan Akinyemi who
is an Olympian.
“With the experience he has gathered in the last Olympics
in London, we believe he will be on the medals table courtesy of the training
he is going through now.”
About Chierika Ukogu who will be the 1st black African to
qualify for the Olympics in 100 years, Olubunmi revealed that, “She is
undergoing her training and we are also hopeful that she will be on the medals
table because she is training hard and with the support of the British Rowing
and International Federation, we believe she will be up there.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Federation, Rear Admiral
Festus Porbeni (rtd) has once again reiterated his resolve to use his influence
in bringing more corporate organizations to invest in the sports following the
recent donation of 20 rowing canoes to the federation by Mutual Benefits
Assurance Plc.
He explained that with the sports having nothing less
than 16 gold medals in rowing and 12 gold in canoeing at the Olympics, Nigeria
stands a better chance of being a global force if the raw human resources
scattered across the coastal areas of the country can be harnessed.
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