2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
The President, Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali believes Nigeria have the potentials to dominate world wrestling if the sport is given the adequate attention it deserves.
Nigerian wrestlers have no doubt brought glory and honour to the country at various international meets, most especially the Commonwealth Games where the team won three gold, three silver and seven bronze medals at the last edition held in Delhi, India.
In this chat with NationSports’ Akeem Lawal, Igali is optimistic that the wrestlers won’t disappoint by wining more gold medals as the country makes her 13th appearance at this year’s edition in Glasgow, Scotland.
Excerpts:
THE 2014 Commonwealth Games is around the corner, what kind of competition are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to a colorful celebration of the Commonwealth. I am looking forward to about 44 wrestling nations competing to elevate the sporting fortunes of their respective countries. As chairman of the NOC technical Commission, I am looking forward to brilliance, individually and collectively at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Can you say the Nigerian wrestlers had the best of preparations?
When you are in the heat of battle, you stop talking about what you could have done better. The discussion now has to be about encouraging our athletes to put in their best efforts at the Commonwealth Games. I have always believed that it’s not how hard or long one train that gets the job done, its how well and how smartly one prepares that gets it done. Ideal scenarios are the stuff of dreams. I can say we have done what could be done in the circumstances. The athletes are in my view, in the mood to compete and challenge for medals for Nigeria.
If you had your way, what would you have wished for the athletes?
Again what I would have wished for the athletes is now belated, I must admit that preparations officially started a bit behind schedule. But my expectations of the athletes have always been to adopt the Boy Scouts motto which is ‘always be prepared’. I’m glad that through the magnanimity of Gov. Uduaghan of Delta State, we had the Chief E. K Clark Wrestling Championships which allowed the athletes some training and competition time frame before the official preparation for the Commonwealth Games started.
For Nigeria to even dream about winning medals at the 2016 Olympics, we really need to shift our focus from one month preparations to a more streamlined, focused and methodical long term development model for our various sports. Preparation has to be a four year cycle-program. Immediately we are through with one Olympic Games, the next Olympic cycle has to begin. Every sport has to make a list of potential Flag-bearers for the country and the monitoring process has to start. Through the various national, continental and inter continental championships and Games, through proper mentoring, funding and programming, we should be able to conveniently predict how many medals we can win at any given Olympic Games. For us to do well, our athletes must compete. The dearth of petitions is the biggest drawback to our performances.
Outside athletics, it’s difficult to pinpoint any athlete in any other sport that has a world ranking. World rankings are based on the tournaments you attend. Wrestling for instance has tournaments spread around the world every month, based on which athletes are ranked. We believe in Nigeria that attending two tournaments a year is enough for our athletes to be world beaters. Until we decide to adopt high performance models in our sports system, we will continue to lament after every major sporting event because we are hardly harnessing the potentials of our athletes.
How motivated are the athletes, considering the fact that the Governor of Bayelsa State gave them some financial boost?
The athletes are motivated no doubt. Governor Seriake Dickson has been our biggest supporter. This is not the first time he has put smiles on the faces of of our athletes, during the last Olympics, not only did he make the wrestlers smile by giving large financial incentives, he also gave financial emoluments to all other Nigerian Athletes and officials that were in Germany in Preparation for the Olympics.
In addition to cash incentives, Governor Dickson has been hosting the the Annual Gov. Dickson Wrestling Classics in Bayelsa State. This year, we intend to host two tournaments in Bayelsa, the President Goodluck Challenge and the Gov. Dickson Classics in October and December respectively. The wrestling Federation is indeed very grateful to Gov. Dickson for his near-fanatical support for Wrestling. He has promised to build a wrestling gym that will be the only fully dedicated wrestling gym in this part of the world. The aim is to ensure that we have un-obstructed access to a facility where training can go on without hindrance.
The Governor has also promised as part of the one-state-one-medal campaign of the NOC, to raise an Olympic medallist from wrestling in Bayelsa State. The implication is that a few wrestlers of Bayelsa origin will start a very high level preparation program for the Olympics immediately after the Commonwealth Games. Gov. Dickson was a wrestler, so I am not surprised that he has this much passion and support for the sport. This informs most of the decisions he has made to support the sport. For instance, when Wrestling was almost withdrawn from the Olympic Games Programme, The Gov. Sponsored all my trips to Russia and Argentina to support the reinstatement of Wrestling at the Olympics. In fact, after the successful reinstatement, the President of FILA wrote a letter to Thank His Excellency for the role he played.
I can go on and on about Gov. Dickson’s invaluable contributions to our sporting fortunes in Wrestling. Recently when I was being encouraged to submit my candidacy for the Executive Board of the International Wrestling Federation, I did not submit my candidacy till I got the support of the Governor. That is the confidence the Wrestling family places on our biggest supporter and benefactor, Hon. Seriake Dickson. He will personally be in Glasgow to support and encourage our wrestlers, that is what true support in all ramifications means and we are grateful to God for his enormous Goodwill.
The wrestlers were named at the end of the E.K Clark Wrestling Championship held in Warri, Delta State, was that enough to select those that will represent the country?
The decision to name the Commonwealth Games Wrestling flagbearers at the EK Clark Championships in Warri was probably one of the best decisions we have made as a federation. It was done in the open and in a very transparent manner. Most times when trial selections are done in a closed camp, athletes always complain about being robbed.
In this instance however, the silver medallist and the bronze medallist who normally do not have a chance to wrestle against each other in a normal tournament were given a chance to face off against each other. Thereafter, the winner was given a further opportunity to face off against the gold medallist. In my view, there is need to give athletes wanting to represent the country the rest of mind to focus on training rather than worrying days to the tournament whether they would make the team. For this Commonwealth Games, we selected the first team two months before the Games and in my view, it was a good decision.
The wrestlers traveled to Romania for a training tour just few days to the Commonwealth Games, don’t you think it’s coming a little bit late?
Ideally, we would have liked to be in Romania for between three and six weeks. However, because of lots of circumstances beyond our control, including visa processing times, we have just slightly over a week to spend on the foreign training tour before leaving for Glasgow. Be that as it may, we still have another week in Glasgow before we start competing on the 29th. We therefore intend to make the best use of the time in Glasgow as well.
How do we guard against such delays for our future International competitions?
It’s a complicated situation. Most national federations, including Wrestling, rely exclusively on funding from the NSC. As a result, there is little we can do as a national federation to address these short comings. I am hopeful however, that things will continue to improve as regards late preparations for international sporting events.
Wrestling won a total of 13 medals for Nigeria which includes 3gold, 3silver and 7bronze medals at the last Commonwealth Games in India, are you optimistic on the present wrestlers winning more medals?
We are hopeful as a federation that our wrestlers will not disappoint Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games. However, it would be irresponsible of me to mention the number and color of medals the wrestlers should and can win. My attitude towards this Games is that of being content with whatever medals we win. I do not want to put much pressure on the athletes.
During the last Commonwealth Games, as the technical adviser, I was able to predict with almost 90% accuracy, the medals we were capable of winning. This time however, my technical team is optimistic of our chances in Glasgow, but I wouldn’t volunteer information on number of medals, especially gold medals. Only 30% of the members on the last Commonwealth Games team are on the current team.
As happy and excited as I am that there is turn-over in athletes and new talents are discovered, it also means that experience is sacrificed. I therefore have to be patient with results and not expect too much and ultimately put too much pressure on the team.
The target the federation has set for the team is for each athlete to give 100% effort on the mats in Glasgow.
Since you became the President of Wrestling Federation, the sport has witnessed tremendous development, how have you been able to combine the role with your position as the Chairman House Committee on Sports in Bayelsa?
First of all, I have a good team of board members in the Wrestling Federation which makes my job as president a little easier. Secondly, I have very good relationships with the DG of the National Sports Commission and the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee. The Minister of Sports is also very accommodating and accessible, this makes it a bit easier for us at the federation to effect decisions quicker than normal.
Thirdly, I have the support of my Governor, Speaker and other members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, as a result, when I attend to matters of Sports generally and Wrestling in particular, I normally don’t encounter any problems getting release. Fourthly, we have had the support of a few key individuals including the Governor of Delta State, Gov. Uduaghan who has graciously hosted the Chief EK Clark National Championships for the past two years.
The Governor and Government of Bayelsa State has hosted the Governor’s Classic for the past 5 years. No federation can function properly without competitions.
The other person who has operated quietly behind the scenes is Amb. Boladei Godknows Igali. He is the chairman of patrons of the Wrestling federation and has really been a huge influence to the Nigeria national wrestling team. Later this year, he has promised to sponsor Blessing Oborududu and a coach to the World Wrestling championships as part of his promise to fund the most valuable wrestler from the Gov. Dickson wrestling Classics to a grade1 tournament. In addition, he has also been of financial support to the wrestling federation on various occasions.
I think a combination of these personalities and factors have accounted for whatever modest successes we have had as a federation. I do feel though, that to be deemed a success, the Nigerian national wrestling team needs to be winning world and Olympic medals regularly. Only then will I start feeling we are on track.
What are your visions for wrestling in the country and how do you intend to achieve it?
It is the aim of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation to be among the top-ten Wrestling nations in the world. It is also our aim to have some measure of financial independence so we are not fully reliant on government for funding. We also intend to have a private wrestling facility to allow our national team athletes to train year round.
As part of efforts to attain some level of financial independence, by middle of August this year, under the chairmanship of Dr. Godknows B. Igali – chairman of patrons, we intend to have a fundraising dinner. It will be the first of a number of fundraising events aimed at ensuring some financial freedom for the federation.
It’s my view that to have any of our athletes win medals in 2016, we need them to train and compete outside the country for between three to six months every year. These concepts don’t come cheap. In spite of the working agreements we have with several training centers around the world, we need the financial base to effect these lofty plans.
We shall see how well we do in Glasgow, but what we do as a country and as a sports establishment after Glasgow will determine whether we are serious or whether we are merely paying lip service and toying with the fortunes and futures of our young and promising citizens.
