N2.6m at stake as registration commences for CCSF International Taekwondo Opens

Over N2.6m will at be at stake as the registration for the 3rd Chika Chukwumerije Sports Festival (CCSF) International Taekwondo Opens begins for athletes and teams.

The three-day championship holds at Ladi Kwali Hall of the Sheraton Hotel Abuja from October 22 to 27, 2015.

According to CCSF, the tournament is aimed at discovering prospective athletes for the Rio 2016 Olympics, showcase the entertainment potential of a well-organized sporting event, and promote the image of Nigeria to foreign visitors.

This year’s edition is expected to be more entertainment-oriented with the award ceremony shifted to a third day to coincide with a musical concert, and table-tennis matches planned alongside a FIFA mini-tournament for PS 4 lovers to run concurrently with the main event.

The last edition, which received a commendation from the National Sports Commission (NSC) had over nine countries, 26 states, eight Universities, as well as teams from the Para Military and Armed Forces participating.

The numbers are expected to be higher in this year’s edition with 12 countries expected to grace the event, in addition to active participation from the Nigeria Taekwondo community.

The tournament, which is set to apply to gain a World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) G-1 ranking status for 2016, is expected to attract over 1200 spectators during the three-day tournament with a total prize money of N2.8m alongside free equipment worth over N1m, which is to be given to medalists and participants.

Some notable champions expected at the event include 2014 US Opens Gold Medallist, Alfaga Abdoul-Razak Issoufou [+87kg] of Niger Republic [ranked 22 in the World], 2015 Grand Prix Champion, Cheick Salah Cisse [-80kg] of Cote D’Ivoire [ranked 11 in the World], double World Bronze Medallist [2013, 2015] and current Africa Champion, Ismael Coulibaly [-74kg] of Mali [ranked 19th in the World], amongst others.

Nigeria Champions expected to fend off both local and international competition include Commonwealth Gold Medalists, Josephine Esuku [-46kg], Jamilu Mohammed [-58kg], Shola Olowookere [-63kg] and Isah Adams Abubakar [-58kg], all National Team members expected to fight at the All African Games in a fortnight.

Ahead African Games: Former Africa Champion Boosts Taekwondo Team…

Ahead African Games: Former Africa Champion Boosts Taekwondo Team, Showers N.2M On Contingent

Two-time African Games gold medalist, Margaret Elizabeth Binga, in company of fellow African Champion, Chika Chukwumerije, stormed the National Taekwondo Camp in Abuja to inspire and share first-hand knowledge with the chosen athletes to the Taekwondo event of the 2015 All Africa Games, holding in Congo Brazzaville in a fortnight.

Over the weekend, the retired maestro, who is also the current Vice-President of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation and a World Taekwondo Federation International Referee, who will also be officiating at the 2015 AAG donned her Taekwondo gear to share tactical and practical fighting tips with the team, who are currently camped in Abuja.

Mrs Binga in action against Fatimoh Abdullahi [-57kg]

Mrs Binga explained why she flew down just to see the athletes.

“The aim is to use our past Champions to inspire the future ones, and to transfer real knowledge that would be of use to the Nigeria representatives. Being an official for the 2015 AAG and an official at almost every major WTF tournament this year, i felt it was important and a duty to pass down my knowledge and experience to our next generation of stars.”

Head of the NTF Coaching Department, Tony Anafulu was also present alongside the two of indigenous coaches – John Victor and Abdul-malik Mohammed – who will be leading the team to Congo Brazzaville, and have been working very hard over the past weeks with the team.

Mrs Binga, who is also an officer with the Nigeria Customs Service, and to be inducted into the World Taekwondo Hall of Fame next month was quick to recognize and praise the efforts of the indigenous coaches.

NTF Vice-President illustrates a legal technique to the athletes

“The Coaches are doing a good job so far, and I know the tactical tempo will be raised in the remaining two weeks to get the team battle-ready. Meanwhile I will continue to give the technical crew and athletes all the support I can.”

The athletes’ expressed their joy to our correspondent through the Female Captain, 21 year old Chinazum Nwosu who competes in the -52kg, and is the current National Champion in that weight category.

“We learnt valuable tips that would hopefully make a difference in Congo, and the Vice-President went one step further in matching her words with action by the token she gave to the team.”

“The VP came here, gave us valuable competition tips and crowned it with all with N200, 000 as a motivational token. Our morale has been reinvigorated and we are determined to do our best to make Nigeria proud at the AAG.” Ms. Chinazum declared.

NTF Vice-President illustrates a legal technique to the athletes

Final list includes: defending AAG Gold Medallists, Uche Chukwumerije [+87kg], who will captain the 16-man team, and Jamilu Mohammed [-58kg].

Other AAG medallists that make the team are 2011 AAG Bronze Medallist, Sunday Onofe [-80kg], and 2011 Bronze Medallist, Joy Ekhator [-49kg] who also won a Silver in the 2007 edition.

Commonwealth Gold Medallists, Abubakar Isah Adamu [-54kg], Josephine Esuku [-46kg]. Other Commonwealth Medallists that made the team were Segun Olushola [-74kg] and Uzoamaka Otuadinma [-72kg].

Other members of the team include: Edwin Samson Nduka (-63kg), Kolade Paul (-68kg), Ayodele Temitope Ebenezer (-87kg), Chinazum Nwosu (-52kg), Fatimoh Abdullahi (-57kg), Ndu Vivian (-63kg), Ifeoma Dennis (-67kg), and Esther Uzoukwu (+73kg)

The Taekwondo event of the 2015 African Games will be taking place 16 – 19 August 2015.

Commonwealth Medalists Top List Of Taekwondo Team To 2015 All African Games

Commonwealth gold medalists, Abubakar Adamu Isah and Mohammed Jamilu topped the list of 16 athletes listed by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) for the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

Isah, who will be competing in the men’s-54kg, is one of the experienced athletes in the team having featured at the 2014 World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) World Junior Championship in Chinese Taipei as well as the maiden at the 2014 Africa Youth Games in Gaborone, Botswana.

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]

Like Isah, Jamilu (-58kg) is also an established taekwondist having won gold at the 2011 African Games in Mozambique as we as a quarterfinalist at the 2015 Alexandria Open in Egypt.

In the absence of his sibling, Chika, 2011 African Games gold medalist and captain of Team Nigeria, Uche Chukwumerije who will jostle for a medal in the men’s +87kg will also be part of the team.

Another experience taekwondist in the team is 2011 African Games bronze medalist, Sunday Onofe who will fight for a medal in the men’s -80kg.

Other members of the men’s team are Edwin Samson Nduka (-63kg), Kolade Paul (-68kg), Olushola Segun (-74kg), and Ayodele Temitope Ebenezer (-87kg).

Female Members of the Taekwondo Team to the 2014 Commonwealth Taekwondo Games

2014 African Championship bronze medalist, Joy Ekhator (-49kg) will lead the female team as the most experienced athlete.

Others are Jimoh Morufat (-46kg), Chinazum Nwosu (-52kg), Fatimoh Abdullahi (-57kg), Ndu Vivian (-63kg), Ifeoma Dennis (-67kg), Uzoamaka Otuadinma (-73kg) and Esther Uzoukwu (+73kg).

At the last African Games in Mozambique, Nigeria settled for fourth place with two gold, one silver and seven bronze medals while Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal finished as the top three teams in the taekwondo event.

Nigeria, 63 Others For Commonwealth Taekwondo Championship In Scotland

Commonwealth Taekwondo Union, CTU

Nigeria and 63 other nations are expected to feature in the 6th Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships holding in Edinburgh, Scotland in November.

In the last five editions, Nigeria did not feature in the competition but this year, Nigeria will be making its debut in the competition.

President, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), George Ashiru, said the participation of Team Nigeria has been confirmed while the tournament is sanctioned by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

The tournament is also part of efforts by the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union (CTU) to strengthen taekwondo’s bid to be included on the programme of sports for the 2022 Commonwealth Games holding either Durban in South Africa, or Edmonton in Canada.

Nigeria Taekwondo Federation.

Ashiru, who is also the Vice President of CTU was excited, saying, that the long years of Nigeria from the competition may have affected the country’s rating among the Commonwealth nations but he however expressed optimism that Nigeria would make its presence felt in Scotland come November.

Having received enormous support from the National Sports Commission (NSC) to prosecute its programmes, the NTF boss is hopeful that the commission would surely back the team in its quest to make Nigeria proud at the tournament.

“We want to continue to thank the NSC because during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games camping, our athletes were also part of the exercise and this alone has confirmed that the commission would continue to support us. We are hopeful to be in Edinburgh as the athletes are yearning to return to action again as this competition will also help them to garner points,” he said.

Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh will host the 500 taekwondists from the 64 Commonwealth federations at the two-day tournament on November 15 and 16.

The Championships will feature Kyorugi (fighting), Poomsae (a defined set of movements incorporating blocking, kicking and striking techniques) and, for the first time, Para-taekwondo.

The biennial competition is expecting large national teams from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Malaysia, as well as the host nations.

Taekwondo Scotland chairman, William Darlington said: “I’ve been looking forward to this for over 10 years since my colleagues and I started lobbying vigorously for taekwondo to become a fully-fledged Commonwealth Games sport. Recently we achieved the breakthrough by becoming a Category 2 Commonwealth Games sport and we may feature in future Commonwealth Games, but unfortunately that decision came too late for Glasgow 2014. But we’re delighted to invite top players to come to Scotland in the Commonwealth Games year.

He added: “I’m looking forward to welcoming the national teams from around the world to the capital this winter for what promises to be an unforgettable event.”

The Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships are held every two years, in every year the Commonwealth and Olympic Games are held. They are sanctioned by the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the World Taekwondo Federation and involve world class competitors, making it a major event in Taekwondo.

The first Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships were held in Brisbane, Queensland, on 14 and 15 October 2006. The host was Taekwondo Australia.

Chukwumerije Misses Out Of WTF Grand Prix…As China Taekwondo Association Representative Bungles Logistics Process

Chukwumerije misses out of WTF Grand Prix…As China Taekwondo Association representative bungles logistics process

Nigeria’s sole representative, Chika Chukwumerije, is set to miss out on one of the biggest global Taekwondo events – the WTF Grand Prix Series, which commences on Friday July 4 to 6 at the Suzhou Sports Centre in the Chinese city of Suzhou, due to the laxity and negligence of a representative of the China Taekwondo Association.

The Suzhou Grand Prix event, the first of three Grand Prix series set for this year, is expected to attract a total of 236 top athletes from 57 countries.

The Grand Prix events have a direct impact on qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics, as a massive 40 Olympic ranking points are at stake. Only the world’s top 31 athletes in each weight category, based on their April 2014 WTF Olympic ranking, are eligible for the tournament.

Chukwumerije was Nigeria’s sole Taekwondo athlete eligible for the WTF Grand Prix Series, and one of the few from Africa, who was to represent the African continent at this global event.

Other participating athletes include nine Olympic medallists, including three double Olympic medal winners – Steven Lopez of the United States, Kyung-seon Hwang of Korea and Wu Jingyu of China.

The other gold medalists are Argentina’s Sebastian Eduardo Crismanich, Great Britain’s Jade Jones, Serbia’s Milica Mandic and Italy’s Carlo Molfeta, Korea’s Dong-min Cha and Mexico’s Maria Espinoza.

According to the World Taekwondo Federation President, Chungwon Choue, “The Grand Prix is an exciting new concept in international taekwondo competition, inaugurated last December in Manchester, the United Kingdom.

Our ambition with the Grand Prix is to provide an arena for taekwondo’s finest athletes to raise the sport’s visibility, and to realize taekwondo’s fullest potential worldwide,” said WTF President

To adequately prepare for this event, Chukwumerije had jetted out to Taiwan for a 23-day long intense training camp, the same location he trained before winning a Bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a first for Sub-Saharan Africa at the time.

From the official draws released, Chukwumerije would have met Juan Carlos Diaz of Venezelua in his first fight, and if successful, met the winner between Konstantinos Gkoltsios of Greece and Ivan Trajkovic of Sloviakia, which was considerably a good draw for the veteran combatant.

Shedding some light on why he could not get the visa on time, he fingered the unprofessionalism of the host organizers as the root cause of his absence at the Grand Prix.

“The contact person, Mr Cui Wei, informed us we could get the visa in Taipei and we just had to wait for the invitation letter.

Nigeria Taekwondo Federation.

The Federation submitted all necessary documentation on time, before the stipulated deadline, and all the organizers had to do was sent a letter of invitation on time.

They then sent it just two days before I was to fly out to China, and Mr Cui Wei, did a complete turn-around and told me to head back to Nigeria to get a visa”

Speaking from his training base in Taiwan, an audibly distraught Chukwumerije lamented about the huge work gone down the drain,

“The training camp has been so intense – three times training a day, very strict dieting, 6kg lost, hours of watching and analysing opponents.

I have not trained this hard and been this focused since the London 2012 Olympics, and someone just sweeps all that layer of hard work through sheer incompetence”

Clearly still shaken by the actions of the Chinese Taekwondo Association representative, the veteran athlete reflected on the negative consequences for Nigeria,

“Now the Grand Prix has started in earnest, and Nigeria is unrepresented by any athlete, just because the organizing committee could not respond to a request email on time or provide the right info at the right time.

The unprofessional and unfortunate manner in which the China Taekwondo Association has handled this issue has cost the Nation dearly in terms of funds, money and Olympic points.”

The athlete thanked the National Sports Commission for their tremendous support towards the growth and development of Taekwondo in Nigeria, and hoped that this incident does not cause significant damage to Nigeria Taekwondo’s chances of qualifying for Rio 2016 Olympics.

Taekwondo Federation organizes national referee’s seminar in Abuja

Velodrome being set up for the National Course

A seven-day National Referee Seminar/Workshop, organized by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) commenced at the National Stadium Abuja and is expected to run from June 1 to 7 with the 24 participants drawn from Benue, Kebbi, FCT Abuja, Oyo, Lagos, Imo, Kaduna, Delta, Plateau, FUT Minna, and Nigeria Civil Defence Corps.

During the course, participants will be required to learn and practise with the latest competition rules, learn how to set-up and use the latest technological gadgets for Taekwondo, and also complete a course in competition management techniques. Examinations are held for participants at the end of the course.

NSC High Performance Coach shakes Pioneer Nigerian Grandmaster, Dominic Bassey, at the opening ceremony as NTF President George Ashiru looks on.

The George Ashiru-led Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) reiterated its commitment to developing all aspects of the game that would give Nigeria an advantage on the global stage.

According to the Federation President, George Ashiru, “The referee plays a vital role in the scheme of things when it comes to winning international medals, and Nigeria simply does not have enough referees on the global stage.”

Highlighting the strategic importance of the on-going exercise, the NTF Boss noted that, “the event is part of the Federation’s vision to get our referees in place by the 2015 All African Games and beyond.”

“The Federation decided at the beginning of the year to organize a series of National Referee workshops throughout the year that would help standardize our local referees and bring them up to speed with the latest technological equipment and competition rules”

Buttressing the stand of the NTF President, the NSC High Performance Coach for Taekwondo, Kim Jin Beom of South Korea, who is a top class World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)-sanctioned referee, emphasized the need for Nigeria’s referees to be brought up-to-date on the latest rules.

“The quality of referees in Africa is generally low, but the countries that have the best and most influential International referees generally come out on top in 50-50 decisions during critical competitive matches. Nigeria must cultivate this advantage year by year.”

Participants take notes during the Theory session on Latest Competition rules.

He further connected the quality of referees to the tactical awareness of the national athletes.

“Most referees are also coaches, or train with coaches in their various localities. It would be impossible for them to teach their athletes how to take advantage of the competition rules, if they themselves are not current”

Chukwumerije spearheads Nigeria’s quest for honours at African Senior Taekwondo Championships

Beijing Olympics bronze medalist, Chika Chukwumerije will return to the ring, as he leads Nigeria’s quest for honours at the 2014 African Senior Taekwondo Championships, which kicks off on Wednesday May 7 in Tunis, Tunisia.

Chukwumerije, who last major outing was at the last maiden World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) grand prix held in Manchester will compete alongside his elder brother, Uche, Jamilu Mohammad, Sunday Onofe and Joy Ekhator.

The five-man team departed the country at the weekend with the aim of amassing points from the competition, which is a G-4 ranked tournament with the gold medalist getting 40 points.

The tournament will also plays a crucial role to determine the country’s qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil.

Uche will compete in the men’s -87kg and he recently won gold at the Belgian Open and he is the current All Africa Games Champion. His world rating is 35.

Muhammad is rated 46 in the world and also a gold medalist at the 2011 All Africa Games will compete against the continent’s best in the -58kg.

Abuja-based Onofe, a bronze medalist at the 2011 All Africa Games has missed out from the world rating following his inability to compete in an international competitions and he is expected to jostle for honour in the men’s -80kg.

The only female in the team, Joy Ekhator is a double All Africa Games medalist and she ranked 67 in the world. She will compete in the women’s -49kg.

Chika, who captained Nigeria to the 2012 London Olympics will compete alongside, Olympics champion, Gabon’s Anthony Obame as well as former world champion, Mali’s Modibo Keita in the men’s +87kg.

According to Secretary of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Sunny Obot, the points accumulated during G-4 competition would qualify the athletes for other international competitions.

“The athletes we are featuring are champions in their weight categories. We hope that they will do very well.

This competition will help them very well; the competition is a G-4 competition. What I mean by G-4 is that you need to accumulate points, so when you get to semifinals in this competition, you tend to make 40 points to boost your ranking.

For example, Chika Chukwumerije is ranked 18th in the world. If Chika gets to semifinals or wins a gold medal in this competition, automatically that takes him to about 5th or 6th in the world in his weight category.

So there is every need that we participate in this competition. And the athletes know that if they want to participate at the Rio Olympics in 2016, they must take this competition seriously.”

He however, expressed confidence in the performance of the athletes that would represent Nigeria at the competition, saying that, “they are all champions in their own rights.’’

The trip was facilitated through private funding

Chukwumerije claims gold medal at 2014 Belgian Open

Nigeria’s pedigree in taekwondo received a boost at the weekend when Team Nigeria taekwondo captain to the 2011 All Africa Games, Uche Perez Chukwumerije clinched a gold medal at the 25th Belgian Opens.

The tournament, which is a Grade One World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)-sanctioned competition have athletes across the globe competing to amass points for their world rating.

Uche Perez is brother and mentor to triple Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije, whose engagement with the National Youth Team to the 2014 Junior World Championships in Chinese Taipei, caused Chika to miss the opportunity to gain vital ranking points alongside his older brother.

To win the gold, Uche defeated Rob Van Der Ploeg of Netherlands 2-1 in a terse opening bout, defeated Josip Mara of Croatia 14-2 in the semifinals, before completing the trilogy by flooring Hicham Massaoudi of Germany 4-1 in a very tactical final.

The current All Africa gold medalist, whose current World ranking as of February 2014, is 33, has earned a valuable 10 points that would impact positively on his world ranking which is due to be released this week.

He needs to be top 31 in the World to be eligible to compete at the Grand Prix Series, an exclusive Tournament series reserved for the World’s top 31 athletes in the eight weight categories. Top six qualifies automatically for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Speaking from the Topsporthall Vlaanderen Arena in Zuiderlaan, Gent, Belgium, the African middleweight champion spoke of his delight in winning his first competitive championship since his last outing at the 2013 World Taekwondo Championships in Mexico.

“I am happy that I won. This was my first competition since the World Championships last year, so I was a bit nervous. It is very important that I got some world ranking points. It is good for Nigeria and increases our chances for RIO 2016 Olympics. I hope I can repeat the same feat next weekend at the German Opens, next month at the African Senior Championships and at other tournaments scheduled for me this year.” Hopefully, I would earn enough points to break into the Top 30 ranking this year,” he said.

He noted the importance of going for international competitions to earn world ranking points,

“The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) led by George Ashiru, has encouraged and mandated elite athletes to earn points, while the NTF focuses on developing young athletes. Hence, my focus in 2014 is on earning those important points and fine-tuning my competitive skills, so I can be in prime shape by 2015, which is a key year for Elite athletes,” he added.

Uche Chukwumerije (in red) at the 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique. He won gold at the weekend at the 2014 Belgian Opens

Nigeria gets WTF wildcard for Youth Olympics in China

For its consistency in the last few years coupled with the performance of its athletes at most international competititions, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has given Nigeria wildcard to compete at the 2014 World Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

At the WTF qualifiers concluded at the weekend in Taipei City, 39 countries including two African nations -Egypt and Morocco secured their places at the global championship holding later in the year in China.

Despite the inability of Nigerian athletes to secure a place from the qualifiers, the world ruling taekwondo body considered Nigeria’s pedigree at global stage coupled with the performance of the Team Nigeria nine-man contingent, decided to award one of the 20 wildcards available to Nigeria in the male event of the Olympics.

Meanwhile, out of the 74 qualification places up for grabs at the two-day qualification tournament, which was held at the Taipei Arena, host – Chinese Taipei clinched five tickets, showing its supremacy in taekwondo. The taekwondo competition of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games scheduled for August 17 to 21, 2014 in China.

Five countries took home four qualification places. They are Egypt, Azerbaijan, Russia, Belgium and Mexico, while four nations won three tickets, which are Ukraine, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands.

Eight countries grabbed two qualification tickets. They are France, Colombia, Iran, Croatia, Thailand, the Great Britain, Italy and Brazil.

A total of 21 countries took one qualification place. They are Canada, Morocco, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Malaysia, Spain, Korea, Ecuador, Chile, Vietnam, Jordan, Singapore, Czech, Austria, Uzbekistan, the United States, and Puerto Rico.

Through the qualification tournament, a total of 74 qualification places, 37 for males and 37 for females, were selected. Out of a total of 100 places for the taekwondo competition at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, the host country of China automatically earned six places, three for men and three for women, and the remaining 20 are the universal places, better known as wildcards. The host country did not participate in the qualification tournament.

Team Nigeria duo bow out as Adamu tackles Peru’s Oblitas

Team Nigeria’s pair of Esther Godwin and Ogeh Ogochukwu were shown an early exit on Thursday at the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)-organised 2014 Youth Olympics Qualifiers taking place in Taipei, Chinese Taipei.

Their inexperience came to the fore against their more exposed opponents while in the male category, national sports festival silver medalist, Isah Adamu will on Friday tackle Peru’s Oblitas in the – 63kg.

Ogochukwu was the first casualty as she fell gallantly to Chile’s Francisca Rios 16-0 in her first international outing in the female -49kg.

According to taekwondo buffs, Ogochukwu’s nervousness coupled with her small stature may have contributed to her wide margin loss against the Chilean.

They however, argued that the difference between the two athletes was evident but said that it was a good experience for the Nigerian.

Like Ogochukwu, Also, Godwin was no match to Russia’s Turutina Yulia in the female -63kg as she was defeated 13-0 by the more experienced Russian.

However, taekwondo tacticians believe with more exposure, Godwin has the quality to be a world-class fighter. They described her as a potential star of the future.

Aside Adamu, who will be fighting today, Mohammed Bashir and Iniobong Ekong will also taste action.

Ekong will battle the winner between Croatia’s Ivina Babic and Canada’s Jerom Andrea in the female -55kg, while Bashir will confront Cote d’Ivoire’s Aaron Fran in the male -55kg.

The qualifiers end on Friday with 100 athletes made up 50 male and 50 female will secure their slots at the 2014 World Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

Other athletes will get another shot at making it to China during the continental qualifiers.

Team Nigeria arrives Taipei for WTF Youth Olympics qualifiers

The nine-man contingent of Team Nigeria at the weekend arrived Taipei City in Chinese Taipei in readiness for the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)-organised 2014 Youth Olympics Qualifiers, which kicks on Thursday March 20.

With support from the National Sports Commission (NSC) and under the guidance of the new national coach, Jin Beom Kim, the duo of Esther Godwin (-63kg) and Ogeh Ogochukwu (49kg) will weigh-in on Wednesday March 19, while the draw will also hold same day. They are expected to fight on Thursday march 20.

Iniobong Ekong, Husseini Isah and Bashir Muhammad will weigh in on Thursday March 20 while they are to fight on Friday March 21.

For Ekong, her confidence has improved having undergone training prior to the tournament.

“This is the first time I will be competing for Nigeria, and I feel great about it. I feel like I can win a medal. I have finished my secondary school, but I have not registered for JAMB because of funds. I hope this trip can open an opportunity so I can be given a scholarship.

In Taipei, I expect to see other young people like me, but they have arms and legs like us. The camping experience has been good, because I have learnt many things and my stamina has improved,” the National Youth Games gold medalist said.

According to board member of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Chika Chukwumerije, the team has a good chance to make it to the Olympics.

“Two or three of them stand a slight chance, but I do not expect them to win medals on their very first international competition with no prior international experience and extended training. They are all eager to do well and win medals; their drive and passion is worth all the investment,” the Beijing Olympics medalist said.

He added: “For me, participation will change their lives; they will see new places, meet young people from all over the world, form healthy relationships, and learn new competitive tactics and strategies.

The inspiration from this trip would ensure and guarantee future success. Most importantly, it would increase Nigeria taekwondo chances for next year’s All Africa Games and 2016 Rio Olympics. They are the future of Nigeria taekwondo.”

“A good investment now would surely increase the size of medal dividends in the next decade. I hope they get scholarships, endorsements, training aids/equipment and every other pampering that is important for the development of a young athlete, so they can grow into mature confident adult competitors and leaders,” he explained.