by The Ajasa News | November 10, 2019 7:03 pm
…..Promises more Ministry support
By Martin Odiete
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Olusade Adesola has hailed the Francis Orbih led board of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, BFN, for their efforts in promoting the Para-Badminton Games.
Speaking on Saturday in Abuja during the closing ceremony of the BWF/BCA Para-Badminton Workshop which was held at the gymnastic hall of the Moshood Abiola stadium, he noted that the activities of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria is in line with the agenda of the honourable Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare who has advocated that efforts be geared towards improving the capacities of Athletes, maintaining that Federations cannot be doing the same thing all over and expect to get a different outcome.
“The agenda of the honourable Minister, Hon. Sunday Dare believes that there is need to build the capacity of Athletes if they are to excel. We cannot be doing the same thing the same way and expect a different outcome, and one of the ways to train and build the capacity of our Athletes and the coaching crew, in that way they will be exposed to new way of doing things, the emerging technology and they will be able to excel. So, to us in the ministry it is very exciting to see this event.
“And you know the rules and regulations guiding this sport are not static, they keep changing with time and the only way you can get to know it is when you go for refresher courses. So, it is in this regard that I commend the board of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria for this event. It is a good one,”
Olusade also stressed that the ministry will be looking into the request of the Badminton Federation who had complained about the lack of equipment and training facilities to properly train the Para-Badminton players.
“We have always been supporting them. I recall today now they mentioned the need for us to provide them with standard wheel chair, the ministry will look into that request. We also enjoined them to improve on their marketing sponsorship drive. You know government alone cannot fund sports,” He said.
However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports laments that government alone cannot fund Nigeria sports while charging the Federations to improve on their sponsorship marketing drive.
“The reality is even that government is probably tired, but we need the sports to keep moving. And therefore we will continue to appeal to the members of the private sector to come to our aid. In a couple of weeks the honourable minister will launching a new initiative that would promote greater private sector involvement in sports. That initiative is called the adoption program,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, president of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih toldwww.theajasanews.com[1] that the immediate goal of the Federation for the Para-Badminton is to ensure their qualification for the 2020 Olympic in Japan.
“I said eelier we had the sponsorship from Kaduna state Government to attend the world championship which was a qualifiers for the Para-Badminton but because of visa issues they could not go. But we are trying to see if they can attend other championships where they will be able to qualify. So, the Para-Badminton team for Nigeria stands a good chance to qualify for the Olympics.
“For Para-Badminton again, we are having discussions with the Badminton Confederation of Africa, BCA, to see the possibility of having the first ever Para-Badminton International championship in Nigeria. We have never had it. In Africa, Uganda has held it continuously, no other country. For the first time, maybe next year we might have an International Para-Badminton championship.
The BWF/BCA workshop attracted Para-Badminton players from several countries of Africa with top resource persons conducting the workshop.
Source URL: https://theajasanews.com/olusade-adesola-hails-badminton-federation-efforts-in-developing-para-badminton-games/
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