83 athletes to fly Team Nigeria Flag in Tokyo

A total 83 athletes will represent Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, youth and sports development minister Sunday Dare has announced.

The athletes will depart for the Games in two batches–with a first batch of athletes is scheduled to depart for Kisarazu on 6th July while the second batch departs on 13th July.

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The paralympic Teams will depart in one batch on 8^th  August.

They will enter 14 days of pre-game training camp in Kisarazu , Japan to prepare for the games.

The  Minister  made this  disclosure on Monday while  addressing the plenary meeting with National Sports Federations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

“The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020  affected the organisational structures of both the Olympic and Paralympic  Games,” Dare told a plenary with the National Sports Federation for the Olympics and Paralympic Games at National Stadium, Abuja.

“This consequently pushed International Federations (IFs) to review their international sporting calendar and qualification pathway for athletes in their quest to participate at the Games.

“These challenges, no doubt were difficult to overcome, but could not stop us as a great nation in ensuring that our athletes are strongly supported and motivated to achieve this milestone.

The 61 athletes will take part in nine sports at the Olympics—22 in athletics, three in badminton, 24 in basketball, one in canoe sprint, one in gymnastics, one in rowing, one in taekwondo, one in table tennis, and one in wrestling.

A total 22 athletes are in four sports for the Paralympics—five in para athletics, 10 in para powerlifting, one in power rowing, and six in para table tennis.

The minister further  said, “The recent qualification of Nigeria for the Women’s 4x100m, Women’s 4x400m and 4x400m Mixed Relays was a significant achievement for the country, while still awaiting the World Athletics (WA) to ratify the slots in a  few days.