By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare has assured that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be quite eventful for ‘Team Nigeria’ since everything has been done to motivate the athletes to excel.
In an interview with Zain Asher of Cable News Network (CNN), the Minister said:
“I want to assure you that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is going to be different because we have seen through our public private partnership our Athletes been adopted and supported both financially and their welfare been taken care of. That is how we have excellent performances. We want to surpass the feat of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in Tokyo”
On the safety of the athletes due to the current spike in covid-19 pandemic in Japan, he affirmed, “There is a Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) just like every country has an Olympic Committee.
“This Ministry and the government have been working closely with the IOC, NOC and the Japanese government through the Japanese Ambassador. We do know that there is an IOC guideline and book on Covid- 19 and we are keyed unto that to ensure the safety of our athletes.
“Most importantly, we are looking at the vaccination of our athletes. We are also looking at the 14 day guideline to get the covid -19 test before Tokyo opens for the Olympics. All Olympics- bound athlete have taken their first shot of the vaccine.
“Though the IOC has said vaccination is an option, we will make sure all our athletes take the two shots. We have received massive support from the presidential task force on Covid -19”, the Nigerian Minister assured.
