Nigeria Taekwondo Federation Will Build On Success Of Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships in Scotland – George Ashiru

DG NSC, Gbenga Elegbeye, motivating the athletes before the beginning of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships

Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) President, George Ashiru Speaking today after arrival of Nigeria of the Nigerian Taekwondo Team that won 10 medals at the just concluded Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships in Scotland Highlighted The plans that have been put in place by his federation to build on the success of Team Nigeria at the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championship.

“The NTF now has a new standard. 10 medals in an international championship. So, the pressure is on for maintaining and surpassing this new standard. It will be tough, but doable if the planning and resources are adequately engaged. We have a few new championships that will help discover new, taller athletes to meet the new electronic order of Taekwondo Ashiru Said”

Head Coach, Grandmaster Jin Beom Kim, holds a briefing session with players on arrival in Scotland

The NTF President also stated that The Korean Ambassador Championships in December will help the Federation begin to find more potentials for high performance training.

“In March we want to have a Collegiate Team Championships to bring in talents from the higher institutions. Also, we will be doing a special High Performance Coaching Workshop about February 2015 for all of our state and national coaches to bring them up to speed on coaching pedagogy and practical athlete management skills”.

Double Medallist, Josephine Esuku, shows off her Medals

George Ashiru also highlighted the fact that the national high performance centre is key to his Federations strategy for 2015, Saying that a full time training centre where we can invite champions and potentials for continous training and monitoring is on the top of the list of requirements for the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation.

“In the first quarter of next year we will be sending athletes for continuous open camping at the NSC high performance centre in Abuja. By the time we have the National Sports Festival in April we ought to have the face of a new national team that can be rigourously prepared for the African Games and World Championships of 2015” Said the NTF Boss.

Medallists at 2014 Commonwealth Taekwondo Games [L-R: Adaeze Asigbe, Chika Chukwumerije, Shola Olowookere, Jamilu Mohammed, Esuku Josephine, Segun Olushola, Adamu Abubakar Isah, Uzoamaka Otuadinma, Ebere Blessing Nwakanma]

“The NTF is embarking on simultaneous development of all the faces of Taekwondo. Sparring (Kyorugi), Poomsae (Forms), and Para-Taekwondo Development. This is important as each has their own medals count. We have focussed on Sparring development for too long and neglected the other areas of training. In Edinburgh, our first 3 medals came from the Forms which we just started encouraging a few years ago” .

Team Captain & Athlete-Coach, Chika Chukwumerije, poses with some members of the team on arrival in Scotland

Ashiru Concluded by confirming that Taekwondo is on the way to being a Para-Lympic event in 2020 and that Nigeria would need to begin aggressive recruitment and training of that category of athletes before the podium becomes available. “We need to be at the same level as other nations when Taekwondo becomes a paralympic event”.