Date: 2016-09-09

Nasiru Gawuna, the President of Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), on Thursday said the National Youth Games' objectives would be achieved if only qualified youths participated in Ilorin.

Gawuna, in a statement, said the Ministry of Youths and Sports needed to ensure only qualified youths participated at the forthcoming Games scheduled to begin on Sept. 22.

"What should be paramount in the thinking of the Games' organisers is how best to discover talents for the 2024 Olympics as the country may experience a repeat of her dismal performance in recent international competitions.

"The era of participating in the Olympics without winning a medal should be over if the talents discovered at the Games can be given long term training which will see them getting international exposure before the big stage," he said.

The YSFON President decried the fire brigade manner which administrators in Nigeria apply in preparing the country's sportsmen and women for international engagements.

"This has often resulted in a dismal performance by the country at the world stage." Gawuna also said what the country needed now was "not just the gathering of sports enthusiasts brainstorming on the way forward but a holistic approach to keep in touch with sports development at the grassroots.

"We also need to help in ensuring the talents discovered are well groomed for future glory."

The YSFON President said Nigeria's dismal outing at the just-ended Rio Olympics was a wake-up call.

"This is why the Sports Ministry should ensure age cheats are not allowed in the competition in Ilorin if the country is ready to face the reality." He recalled that YSFON as a body had been in the frontline in ensuring age-cheats were eliminated from its competitions.

"We realised that this is the only way to appreciate the level of development, instead of using over-age athletes to win competitions," Gawuna said.

He also appealed to the Sports Ministry to look the way of the non-governmental youth sports organisations which had contributed to grassroots development in the new drive. "This must be done in order to attain a defined goal in the county's sports policy."

Gawuna also appealed to states' sports authorities to see the Games as an avenue to expose the raw talents in their respective domain by ensuring only eligible athletes compete.

He however said the Games organisers' decision not to feature many team events at the competition was not good for sports. "It is a disservice to many of the talents who would have been picked by their various Sports Councils for future nurturing."

The YSFON President disclosed that the federation would soon unveil its new partner in its quest to take sports development at the grassroots to the next level.(NAN)