1 week Ago By Abdullahim Admin 1
The Nigerian Veteran Wrestlers Association (NVWA) has thrown their weight behind the candidacy of world light heavyweight champion for the position of Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) President. The veterans who declared their position in a statement on Saturday said they were confident that Atula, the Chairman of Edo Wrestling Association was the man to drive the desired change in Nigerian Wrestling. The statement made available by the office of NVWA chairman and Secretary on behalf of over 65 former Wrestlers, coaches, administrators and promoters of wrestling in Nigeria.
The veterans said even though they were pleased with the interest of philanthropists and lovers of wrestling in the sports, giving the presidency of NWF to a non-wrestler would not be in the interest of wrestling but counterproductive. “We believe that having a competent, technocrat, an ex-wrestler in charge of wrestling in Nigeria will boost the game and create more opportunities for the younger generation. “We are confident that Maurice Atula, an ex International who has lived his entire life as a wrestler, coach, administrator is the most suitable to take over as President of NWF.
“Maurice Atula has been the Edo State chairman, hosted cadet championships for four consecutive years, provided cash prizes for winners and also sponsored cadet athletes,” they said. The veteran wrestlers called for the revival of grassroots wrestling and involvement of core professionals in the administration of the sports in Nigeria as had not been the case in the last 12 years. They lamented the collapse of wrestling and non-staging of competing at the state and regional level, saying that technical director of NWF should be one who had the background of wrestling and understood the core areas of the sports.
They said veteran wrestlers with their experiences such as coaches, administrators, promoters should be brought to the table to guarantee progress. According to them, “we expect that there should be grassroots wrestling in all the states but we have not had it for about 12 years. “We have Zonal representatives but no zonal championship because most of those in the zones do not know what to do, for 16 years the federation has a Technical Director that has no knowledge about wrestling “National Wrestling Champions should be rotated around the geopolitical zones and states and not limited to one state as we have had in the past 12 years and the coach in charge of the national team should be all inclusive.
“Most Southeast states do not have basic wrestling equipment like the wrestling mat if you do not have wrestling mat how will they train their athletes, the North is like exempted from wrestling. “We know that the International Federation provides wrestling mats to the National Federations to help develop wrestling at the grassroots, we did not know what happened to the Nigerian situation. “These things should be changed and that is why the veterans are calling on Maurice Atula to contest and take charge as the president of the Nigeria wrestling Federation,” the statement said.
NVWA called on the federal government to fund wrestling from the preparations stage to the competitions. “The athletes should be funded as well and not just the competition while urging private sector and philanthropist to help develop the sport. “We want the Minister of Sports and all stakeholders to know that we appreciate all philanthropists but the administration of the sports be given to a wrestler with knowledge and experience to drive the sports,” it concluded.
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