A former Coach of the
Super Eagles, Adegboye Onigbinde, has said Nigeria does not deserve to
win a medal in the ongoing London Olympic Games.
Onigbinde, who spoke
with our correspondent in a telephone interview, on Thursday, said the
country did not prepare for the games.
He said winning a medal
at the Olympics takes 12 years of adequate preparation and that the Team
Nigeria’s preparation was not enough to produce winners in a
competition like the Olympics, where only the best compete. The FIFA
tactician added that he was not disappointed at the dismal showing of
the Nigerian contingent to the Olympics.
He said, “Look at the William sisters; do you know how many years it took their father to take them to that height?”
Things started looking
bad for Nigeria in London when all the table tennis players were knocked
out early at the Games. Among them was Segun Toriola, who attended his
sixth Olympics. Onigbinde says Nigeria should invest in young athletes
who have medal hopes.
“Look at the average age
China, USA, Britain, Korea brought to the Olympics. Look at the average
age of our athletes to the Olympics. What is the average age of our
table tennis players?
“Africans are physically
endowed. That’s why you see athletes of African descent amassing medals
at the games for even western nations but this is not the case for
Nigerians.”
Calling on the people in
charge of sports in Nigeria to embrace modern standard in the
preparation of athletes for competition, the CAF instructor said Nigeria
must separate developmental programme from competition.
PUNCH
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