Players’ representative on the board of the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF), Segun Gbayi, has appealed to Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdulahi and Director General, Honourable Gbenga Elegbeleye not to let the sport of Judo die a premature death through exclusion of Judo in the forth-coming National Youth Sports Federation.
A visibly angry Gbayi expressed disappointment over replacement of Judo with Rugby in the Youth Sports Festival, tagging the decision “a big blow to future of Nigerian Judo.”
“First of all, the entire board of the Nigeria Judo Federation is sad and pained by decision to dump Judo at a time our youth development programme is climaxing.
“ Our Judokas have been training ahead of the Youth Games in December and they have been shattered by his sad development. Judo is a developmental sport and the board’s target of producing tomorrow’s stars today has been dislocated by this sad decision,” said Gbayi who has appealed to the Sports Minister and Director General and other top brass of the National Sports Commission to reverse the decision.”
Speaking further, Gbayi said, “We are pleading on behalf of the Judokas, that the NSC allows Judo youths to feature in the December Youth Games.
The present board was the first to organize a tournament immediately after the inauguration in Abuja. The Youth Judokas have been training in the last seven months and the NSC should lift their spirits through readmission into the youth sports festival.”
Immediately after Monday’s board meeting of the NJF in Lagos, other members also wondered why some persons decided to truncate the programmes of the NJF after the Judokas won medals in a recent international meet.
