Organisers of the 4th edition of the National powerlifting trials tagged “All Nigeria Powerlifting Championship” coming up between the 11th to 13th of December, inside the Gymnasium of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos have revealed their readiness to stage a world class event in their quest to reposition the sport in Nigeria.
The Powerlifting Federation of Nigeria speaking through its Secretary General, Ismaila Ademola Aderoju, said the competition was important since the sport has gained international recognition.
“First and foremost, at the last Olympics, Powerlifting attained Olympics games status, meaning that every powerlifting federation that are members of International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) are eligible to compete at the games and so, we are using this avenue to pick athletes to represent Nigeria at Rio 2016”
Speaking further, he lamented the postponement of the National Sports Festival but was quick to add that the postponement was a blessing in disguise as it will allow the powerlifting federation have more time to groom their athletes well before the NSF where the powerlifting will be included as an exhibition sport and they are poised to convince the National Sports Commission regarding the inclusion of powerlifting.
Aderoju revealed that next year will be a busy year for the federation as the World Championship will be hosted in the United States of America which calls for serious preparation.
He expressed optimism that this year’s edition will be bigger and better if the past 3 editions’ statistics are anything to go by.
“The 1st one, we had about 9 states, the 2nd increased to about 15 while the 3rd edition involved about 19 states and for this year’s edition, we are expecting about 26 states, clubs and individuals to come challenge for honours because that’s why it’s tagged ALL NIGERIA POWERLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP”
“We have 15 categories in powerlifting, 8 in the male category and 7 in the female category, so we are expecting close to 200 athletes to come and participate in the 3 day event.”
He concluded that participating athletes should not expect any form of financial remuneration in accordance with global practices for trials.
“Since we are using it to pick our athletes to represent the country, in accordance with global practices, winners will go home with certificates and medals but we may review that policy from the 5th edition and attach cash prizes in our quest to motivate and encourage our athletes.
We are using this competition to test the present state of our powerlifters because it’s been long we had a national competition that will bring together all the athletes and test their present conditions.
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