The immediate past secretary-general of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Mohammed Maigidansama, has urged the zonal representatives of the federation to organise more grassroots competitions, to discover more talents for the country.
Maigidansama made the call in Abuja. He said that organising competitions in the zones would enable the federation to discover more young wrestlers to replace the aging ones.
According to him, the federation needs to nurture athletes if the country is serious about winning medals for the country in international competitions.
“The work starts from the zonal representatives; they need to organise more competitions to help them discover talents.
“If they have a problem of funding, I am sure that the board members and the president of the federation, Daniel Igali, will give them the necessary support to execute their events.
“The president and the board members are of a high caliber, and their main responsibility is to develop the sport.
“All we need as a federation and country is more grassroots competitions to enhance the development of the sport in Nigeria,” he said.
The former secretary added that the federation must also organise more refresher courses for coaches and referees.
“The federation also needs to train their coaches and their referees so that they will be able to measure with the world knowledge of the sport.
“Our coaches and referees need to upgrade their level of knowledge academically because the certificate will be for them and not the federation.
“When a coach or a referee is certified with the global licence, it also boosts the standard of the competition.
“I am not saying that the federation is not organising coaching courses for coaches and referees, all I am saying is that they need to increase it,” he said.
Maigidansama further said, “We want to see Nigeria wrestlers winning gold medals in African Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympic Games.”
“Blessing Oborududu, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Hannah Reuben, Esther Kolawole and Ashton Mutuwa, represented Nigeria at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Some of them are young, while some are old; the old ones should be coaching the upcoming wrestlers and it will ensure that the young wrestlers continue with the momentum of winning medals for the country.
