NTF unveils plans for taekwondo in 2015, calls for support

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To ensure that its 2014 feats are consolidated, the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) yesterday unveiled its major plans for 2015 while calling for more support to the sport from private and public sectors.
Uche Chukwumerije 2

According to the President of NTF, George Ashiru, 2014 has been worthwhile for the sport following the successes recorded locally and internationally.

“I want to say that 2014 has been a rewarding year for taekwondo because we wanted to achieve some of our objectives in the year and we are happy that we were able to do this. We tagged a developmental year and truly it was a year that we were able to discover athletes that will take over from the likes of Chika Chukwumerije,” Ashiru said.

“We organized six tournaments this year and we took part in five international competitions, which for us was encouraging. At the maiden National Youth Games, we wanted to unearth new athletes and we were able to identify some of them and today some of these athletes are doing well even at international levels.

“Two of the discovered athletes featured at the World Junior Championships and despite not winning medals, they gave a good account of themselves. From this tournament, they were able to garner some experience which has been helpful to them in subsequent tournaments.

“They were able to win gold medals at the Commonwealth Championships in Edinburg, Scotland and they ended the year with gold medals at the Lagos Opens. For us, we have been able to monitor these athletes and they are doing well in their various categories,” he continued.

The Vice President, Commonwealth Taekwondo Union (CTU) added that with more support taekwondo has the potential to win more medals for Nigeria at international competitions.

“With 15 athletes that went to the Commonwealth Championships, we won 10 medals to finish fourth overall compared to countries that came with over 80 athletes. This goes to show that we have quality. But we will not be carried away by this feat because top nations like Korea, United States, and others were not at the tournaments but it was a good platform for us to assess our athletes,” he said.

The NTF boss however, said that efforts would be geared towards getting more exposure for the athletes.

He said the 2015 World Championships and All Africa Games as the two major tournaments that are crucial to the country’s qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“I cannot specifically confirm that we have the athletes that can compete well at the Olympic Games in Brazil because like other nations that considers tall athletes from other sports to represent them at the Olympics. We will also consider this workable system to identify tall athletes from other sport and we are intending to train them to become world beaters,” he disclosed.

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