Olympics Camp Opens In Abuja

Nigeria’s preparations for this year’s Olympic Games will commence on Thursday, May 5, as the homebased athletes shortlisted for the event have been directed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to report to the High Performance Hostel in Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja.

According to the directive from the office of the Director of the Federations and Elite Athletes Department, Ministry of Sports Hauwa- Kulu Akinyemi, the athletes from the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, the Nigeria Basketball Federation, the Wrestling Federation of Nigeria and the Weightlifting Federation are expected to begin another round of camping exercise.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation and boxing federation are expected to remain in Lagos because of the availability facilities for the two events in the country’s former capital.

Some of the athletes will also be camped at the Cerob Hotel in Gwarinpa with the U-23 team moving to the Cerob Hotel wing in Wuye, Abuja.

The Sports minister, Solomon Dalung, has promised that provisions would be made for travelling for foreign tours as a form of motivation ahead of the Olympics.

Nigeria will participate in eight events namely canoeing, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, athletics, football (men), Table Tennis and basketball.