The President, Nigeria Aquatic Federation (NAF), Chief, Mrs. Chinoye Aliu, is elated with the huge turnout of states in the Swimming event at the 9th National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.
The NAF president, stated that the turnout of athletes was clear evidence of the hard work of the federation and the various state governments in projecting the sport in their states.
“I would rate the aquatics event very high because a lot of states participated. We at the Nigeria Aquatics Federation are getting it right, we have grown, we are doing well, we are performing at the continental level, we are doing very well,” she said.
She was full of praise for Lagos State, that secured 19 gold medals from aquatic events even as she expressed her appreciation to the organisers of the swimming event at the National Youth Games.
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“The facilities we have here are standard, this is an Olympic size swimming pool, so we have used all the parameters of the Olympic games to organize the games,” she said in an interview with First Zealmediacast Blog.
Meanwhile in a bid to keep the level of coaching in aquatics at its peak, Mrs. Aliyu said the federation has organising a biennial coaching course, which every aquatics coach is mandated to attend.
She called on the government, corporate bodies and well-meaning individuals to help upgrade the quality of facilities in Nigeria to the international level.
“We need to step up, we need to upgrade our swimming facilities so that we will be at the same level with the world,” she explained.