The Bayelsa State Commissioner for Sports, Dr. Daniel Igali, has said he wouldn’t have been an Olympic champion if he represented his country of birth, Nigeria at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games.
It will be recalled that the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) won a gold medal in wrestling for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Speaking to our correspondent in Yenagoa, the Olympian regretted that Nigeria does not have that system and is not prepared to nurture that system that brings out the best in the athletes.
Igali, therefore, said he does not have any regret representing Canada and winning the only gold medal in wrestling for his adopted country.
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“You see, I always hear this question, “do you regret not winning it for Nigeria” sometimes when I give the answer, people don’t like it.
“I couldn’t have been an Olympics champion if I were a Nigerian. A lot of times, I will hear oh!, we have these Nigerian footballers, they are in so and so place, if all the African footballers come back to their countries, we will win the World Cup.
“They wouldn’t have been where they are if they were not in those countries. Nigeria does not have that system and it’s not prepared to nurture that system.
“So, I don’t regret not winning that gold for Nigeria. I will like to win it now. I am here and I am doing everything possible to win it but still, the system does not allow me.
I am telling you, we could have had an Olympics gold medalist by now if we had the system, if we had the proper funding,” said Igali.
The NWF president, however, expressed readiness to guide Nigeria’s wrestlers to win gold medals at the Olympics the same way he guided Blessing Oborodudu to win silver at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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