The Bayelsa Commissioner for Youths and sports, Daniel Igali on Friday promised mouthwatering rewards for outstanding performances for the state’s athletes at the ongoing National Sports Festival (NSF) in Asaba.
Igali made the pledge after Team Bayelsa won their first gold medal in Taekwondo Male Team event at the indoor Sports Hall of the Stephen Keshi Stadium on Asaba.
Team Bayelsa on Friday won 1 gold in Taekwondo Male Team, 1silver in Female 64kg category and 2 bronze in the Male 64kg and Pair.
Igali said that the gold would further open the floodgate of gold medals expected from the athletes.
He said that for every gold medal won, there will be a cash reward of N200,000, silver, N150,000 and bronze, N50,000 as instant motivation in Asaba.
“We have started well with a gold medal in Team’s event in Taekwondo, a silver and two bronze medals. This will lead to floodgate of medals coming in.
“We have assured that for every gold medal, the team or individual will get N200, 000, aside what government wants to give. Silver medalist gets N150,000 and Bronze gets N50,000.
“I will meet with the athletes to brief them about the financial reward, I remain confident that based on our preparations, we are hoping for one more gold medal in Taekwondo.
“We have our athletes’ welfare package sorted out and their money is with their respective association Secretaries,” he said.
Igali said that the state had been proactive by providing alternative accommodation and logistics to aid the movement of the state’s athletes to the games village.
“I can further say that because of the hiccups in accommodation and logistics, we have made alternative arrangement to lodge our athletes closer to the venues.
“We need to give our athletes the needed comfort to enable them perform optimally because we are here to compete in over 30 sports and target every medal.
“It is true that flood affected about 30 states in Nigeria maybe we are the worst hit, but we can’t make it as an excuse for below par performances.
“We are targeting more gold medals than what we had in Edo, we want to surpass 56 gold medals haul of the last edition,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Salawudeen Abdulhafeez, Salawudeen Uthman and Oluwasesan Abodurin won the Male Gold for Team Bayelsa. (NAN)
