Bayelsa seek new pastures

              Bayelsa,reputed for their mastery in the art of wrestling emerged as the eight best with 19 gold,23 silver and 27 bronze medals at the Edo 2002 edition of the festival,but are presently hanging in the middle of the standings of the Abuja festival with 11 gold.

              "We are here to see how we can improve on what was achieved in Benin City," said Amgbare."We expect a step forward in Abuja because our Governor is a sports loving person and he has done everything possible to make sure that we grace this festival."

               He stated that  government in Yenegoa is desirous of making spors an industry such that the youths who wish to take to sports could as well see it as a means of livelihood,while he also disclosed  that the state has been trying to put in place facilities for the use of the athletes.

              He explained:"As you know Bayelsa is relatively a new state.All sporting infrastructure that existed in the old Rivers State remained with Rivers,we had to start to put up new facilities of our own.So this is the problem with are faced with presently.

               "We are about putting into use the new swimming pool and the Governor has asked a contractor to build a tartan track for the athletes.All these will further ginger our athletes to perform better in sports in which they were regarded as inferior."

                Amgbare however lamemted his team's poor performance in swimming,a development he said was due to non existence of a swimming pool.

                He lampooned officials of he Nigeria Amateur Boxing Association[NABA] over the disqualification of Bayelsa heavyweight boxer Koku Oyhe who,Amgbare claimed, was disqualified for no cogent reason.

                 "They alleged that Koku was not eligible to participate in this festival because he had already featured in four international competitions.But they were wrong because the boy had only participated in one international event," he argued.

                  The Bayelsa sports boss stressed the need for Nigeria to improve on standard of officiating at competitions of this magnitude. 

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