By Maduabuchi Kalu on August 20, 2016

A former member of the Delta State Sports Commission, Hon. Ejiro Etoroma, has singled out sports administration as the problem bedeviling sports development in the country.

Etoroma, who expressed sadness over the defeat of Dream Team VI by their German counterparts on Wednesday, said the defeat was a personal loss as he had reposed much confidence on the team to make it to the final of the football event at the ongoing Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He recalled the harrowing experience the Dream Team past through in the United States of America before Delta Airline had to come to their rescue to fly them to Brazil on credit. He said that particular experience alone was more than enough to weigh the team down but that the Dream Team proved that they patriotic citizen by defeating their first opponents Japan, five  hours after arriving in Manus, Brazil.

“I think that the problem of Nigerian sports is administration. I don’t really know why we are not blessed with sports administrators who are selfless, whose interest is to contribute to the development of sports rather what we have are people who are self-centred, people who are interested in their person gains than the interest of sports,” Etoroma said.

“When you look at the Dream Team VI match against the Germans, you will definitely realize that the German side was far ahead of us. They were better than us technically and tactically. So, it was not a surprise to me that they won at the end of the encounter despite the doggedness of our players.

“There is no gain saying that our boys were determined to see if they could be able to play in the final but the truth of the matter is that there is a limit luck can take you to. It is true that we lost the game, but the team in my own view gave their best,” Etoroma said.

Continuing, the experience sports administrator said: “On the Games generally, I have always maintained that it will only take miracle and individual efforts of our athletes to win any colour of medal at the Games.

“As far as I am concerned, you don’t give what you don’t have. How can a responsible person expect miracle from the athletes who were not given adequate preparations to perform better than athletes from other climes who have been toiling over the years preparing for the Games? It doesn’t happen like that. Look these things are not rocket science. We should not be deceiving ourselves.

“I laughed when the Hon. Sports Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, mouthed before the Games that Nigeria will return home from the Olympics with nothing less than five gold medals. I laughed because I saw that statement as a statement coming from someone who is trying to play to the gallery. Maybe he was saying that out of ignorance and that is the reason sports should be manned by people who know what it takes to do well in it and not just anybody or be used as political compensation.

“I am saying this because as we speak, Nigeria is yet to be registered on the medals’ table and somebody was saying he was sure we were going to return with at least five gold medals even when it is very obvious that we didn’t prepare for the Games,” Etoroma said.

•Photo shows Sports Minister Dalung.

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 20, 2016

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