By Victor Enyinnaya, Lagos on November 25, 2015

Veteran athletic coach Tobias Igwe (Toblow) has decried the fast fading of the sport in the country and called for quick reverse that will bring back sport that once held sway in the continent and competing strongly in the world stage.

According to him, a situation the country anchors her success in international meet of one or two athletes’ negates the best practices when Nigeria was a leading nation in the track and field event.

“We ask ourselves where we got it wrong and retrace our steps. The country is blessed with abundant talents and material resources to be in this sorry situation. It saddens me when l remembers when the country has many athletes competing in one position. There was healthy competition and the athletes were on their toes always, but this any athlete that feels that he or she held the ace can take the entire country by surprise of what suits him or her. Such trend has to stop as it has instead of leading us to the Promised Land has taken us many steps backward,”” he rues.

Igwe who coached some of the bests Nigeria has ever produced like Chidi Imo, Olapade,  Uchenna Emedolu. Mary Onyeali-Omagbemi, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, Beatrice Ok0ye, Charity Opara Thompson amongst other called on the stakeholders to come together to set agenda on the revival of the sport. He added that the only way out of this steady decline will be for all hands to be on deck so that the naught but manmade issue that has retarded the once rapidly growing sport will be nipped on the bud.

The seasoned coach who is now a coach with the Abia State Sports Council however said that if there are genuine efforts towards the revival of the sport, the country can start off from the grassroots to groom. A situation whereby there divide and rule or what one can easily refer to as exclusive government thing would continue to fall apart.

He commended the efforts of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President, Solomon Ogba, for his unflinching efforts to keep the flag flying. He emphatically revealed that if not the AFN boss, the story would have been worse than what is on ground presently.

“Ogba has shown great commitment and zeal to develop athletes. Other stakeholders and ex- international should come handy and compliment his efforts. It is not one individual that will growth the sport. It should be a collective effort. Athletes must not die. Nigeria has produced key figures in the field and must continue to play that leading role. The country dominated even at the Commonwealth Games one time or the other, and such glorious era can be replayed,“ he said.

•Photo shows veteran athletic coach Tobias Igwe a.k.a Toblow with one of his athletes.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 25, 2015

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