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Yakmut prioritises athletes’ welfare, sports federations’ empowerment

By Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja
04 May 2015   |   5:01 am
Ahead of the 2015 All African Games in Congo, the acting Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, has disclosed that his regime would focus on the welfare of athletes and empowerment of the sports federations to ensure that the nation qualified and prepared well to win medals.
Yakmut

Yakmut

Ahead of the 2015 All African Games in Congo, the acting Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, has disclosed that his regime would focus on the welfare of athletes and empowerment of the sports federations to ensure that the nation qualified and prepared well to win medals.

Speaking at the weekend after watching activities at the ongoing Abuja Open Tennis tournament and the Zenith Women Basketball League at the Package B of the National Stadium, Yakmut said the NSC would work hard to rebuild Nigerian sports, stressing that the country would only think of winning trophies if the athletes and their federations were adequately taken care of.

Yakmut, who praised the organisers of the Abuja Open Tennis tournament for organizing an international championship that attracted tennis players from all over the world, predicted that with the number of Nigerians taking part in the tournament, the country would produce professional tennis stars in the near future.

He assured that the NSC would continue to focus on the sports that would guarantee medals for the country at the All Africa Games, just as he disclosed that four federations have already secured qualification for the games.

Yakmut added: “The fact is that no energy that I have will be wasted in my quest for sports development. I have commenced the gathering of facts and data for sports development and I do not think they would be wasted.

“Nigerians have always refused to be second class citizens in sports and we are going to make sure that we sustain leadership in sports by encouraging all our athletes. Also we are going to rejuvenate and promote the growth of school sports. I am sure that would be enough to keep Nigerians happy and re-launch it to sports leadership,” he said.

Yakmut said the sports commission was empowering the federations to ensure they qualified for the All African Games in Congo, adding, “we have our athletes in Chiba and Benin for table tennis and beach volleyball. The men’s volleyball team will leave this morning for Burkina Faso. Our strategy is to first of all focus on the sports we have high medal hope so that we can target the difference in medals that the South Africans use to be ahead of us.

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