The 2013 IAAF World Athletic championship in Moscow, Russia, is one month away and Nigeria’s chances of winning medals at the biennial ‘Athletics World Cup’ has yielded cynicism and uncertainties so far, as the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) is yet to commence final rehearsals for its team.
Reports suggests that AFN are still soliciting for funds to start the camping of the country’s contingent, as the Solomon Ogba-led board has hit brick wall in all their efforts.
“There is a saying that it is only money that can bring your plans to fruition,” an official of the federation said on Sunday. “We would have loved to camp the athletes for at least two weeks. But for now there is no such thing, we have no funds to make the camping happen.
“Our major worry is our relay teams. They have a good chance to win medals for us, but if they don’t practice, we would have to go there and try harder.”
He added that the relay teams will now have to leverage the proposed July 26 Lagos State athletics meeting to fine-tune their strategy- meanwhile arrangements for the Lagos event is likewise in doubt.
“After that we are hopeful that we will get some funds to at least have a week of concentrated preparation before the championships.”
Meanwhile, IAAF president Lamine Diack has disclosed that the 14th edition of the championship will be the largest global event of the year, as broadcasting arrangements are in place to beam the nine-day event to more territories than ever before in the history of the championships.
A cumulative audience of more than five billion TV viewers has been projected.
我们能胜出同样，更重要的是我们为人好。