Oghenejoboh test for Taekwandoists
Martial artistes, poised to represent Nigeria in the Teakwando event of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, would strive to improve on Peter Oghenejoboh's silver at the 1992 edition in Barcelona,Spain.
Oghenejoboh lost in the final of the heavyweight category at the Barcelona games,when taekwando was a non-scoring sport.But the Nigerian had proved a point. Chika Chukwumerije,Obiora Martins and Princess Dudu will fight for gold in the male heavyweight, male welterweight and the female heavyweight categories, respectively. The trio have been building up to the games at a closed camping exercise,facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Sports in Abuja.They are being groomed by Coaches Osita Edwin and Charity Igbinedion. "We are pretty sure that our athletes are capable of winning gold,at least one at the Olympics," Clement Iyaluegbehe,Secretary-General of the Taekwando Federation of Nigeria [TFN],told nigeriasports.com He based his optimism on the assertion that Nigerian taekwando has matured since Oghenejoboh's exploit 12 years ago. He explained:"I have the confidence that the athletes in camp are capable of winning medals for Nigeria because, during the qualifiers, our athletes defeated so called world class taekwandoists.They beat athletes who have won medals at world championships;it shows that our athletes are themselves world class. "Again they've been in Abuja for more thatn one month, and reports of their response to training is quite positive.They are in very good shape to win medals at the Olympics." Iyaluegbehe revealed that the taekwandoists would, any moment from now,leave for a destination in Germany,where they will be having their final build-up to the games. "They'll be in Germany to take advantage of the state-of-the-art facility there,and participate in top class competitions around Europe," said the TFN chief executive, adding that,"plans are underway to engage a Korean taekwando expert to assist our coaching crew in preparing our athletes for the Olympics.I'm sure that arrangement willbe concluded in few weeks time. 0
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