The Bayelsa State Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr Daniel Igali, has expressed shock over the absence of traditional wrestling known as "Kuwa" and canoeing at the forthcoming National Sports Festival coming up in Ogun State.
Dr Igali expressed the shock when he received Bayelsa athletes who represented the country at the just-concluded 13th ECOWAS African Wrestling Tournament at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
Director of Sports, Braveman Wodi, President of Nigerian Traditional Wrestling Federation, Agbadabina & some of the athletes
The wrestling tournament, which was part of activities lined up to mark the ECOWAS' 50th anniversary celebration, saw two Bayelsans, Ebi Biogos and Ebipadei Mughabofa making the country proud by winning laurels.
Ebi Biogos competing in the 76k weight class and Ebipadei Mughabofa in the 66k category, each won gold for Team Nigeria before combining with their teammates to win two silver medals in team events.
Igali, who is an Olympic wrestling champion, called on the National Sports Commission (NSC) with Shehu Dikko as Chairman and Bukola Olopade as Director General, to include the two sports
in the list of events to be competed for, at the Sports Festival coming up in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
According to Igali, traditional wrestling is one of the local sports in the country and Africa as a whole, that expresses our cultural heritage, insisting that it deserves to be part of the events for Nigeria's version of the Olympic Games.
The sports development commissioner expressed shock at the exclusion of canoeing from the sports festival despite successively qualifying for the last two editions of the Olympics.
He described canoeing as one of the sports that can potentially win medals for Nigeria at the Olympic Games if properly encouraged and the right investment made.
He called on the leadership of the NSF, working in tandem with the Main Organizing Committee of the National Sports Festival to include the two events in the Abeokuta Games.
Bayelsa wrestlers that participated in the ECOWAS African championship
While formally receiving the athletes, Igali said "On behalf of the Bayelsa State Government, I receive you all with pride, celebrating what you have done. This shows clearly the focus of sports development in Bayelsa.
"Arising from that, it is a bit of an irony that Nigeria has hosted the whole of West Africa in traditional wrestling, and we don't have it at the next sports festival in Ogun State. My appeal to the National Sports Commission is that this is one cultural event that runs across virtually every culture and tribe in Nigeria," Igali said.
"Let me also use this opportunity to mention another sport, canoeing. This is one sport that Nigeria has a good opportunity to win a medal at the next Olympics if we plan very early. Over the past Olympic Games, Nigeria has qualified athletes who have done very well and need to be encouraged by harnessing its potentials," Igali maintained.
Igali commended the Senator Douye Diri-led Bayelsa State Government for massively encouraging sports development through approval of funds to execute sports programmes.
Also speaking, the Director of Sports at the Bayelsa State Sports Council, Sir Braveman Wodi, applauded the wrestlers for representing the state and being good ambassadors of the Ijaw Nation.
According to Braveman, the outstanding performance of the Bayelsa wrestlers speaks volumes of the developmental policies of the Prosperity administration especially in the area of sports.
