Nigeria athletes at the ongoing 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia, have pleaded with Nigerians not to write them off from medals table, as there are still opportunities for the team to pick more medals.
Abiola Onakoya, a 4x100m relay athletes said, Team Nigeria still has lots of opportunities to add more medals to the one African queen of sprinter, Blessing Okagbare has earlier won.
Onakoya said they are in Moscow for business and not to watch the Jamaicans, Kenyans and others who have started hauling medals at the five days old championship, adding that when they file in today for the relay race, he is sure of Nigeria winning a medal.
He noted that Okagbare finishing sixth at the women 100m race and some of their colleagues disqualified in some of the events is not the end of the team, saying that the rest of them who will still compete in other events would target medals for the country.
However, he said that Jamaica athletes, USA, Kenya and others received the right training programmes, motivations and are being handled by the right officials.
“What the Jamaicans and others who have been winning medals in all major events are doing is because they are doing what we are not doing; ‘putting round peck in round holes’. We need the right officials, right athletes, right yearly training programmes for the athletes and of course their welfares.”
Okagbare after winning silver medal in Long Jump, failed to win her second medal at the games when she lost out in 100m race, finishing sixth.
He insisted that Nigeria has the athletes that can compete with the best in the world, but needs the right atmosphere to operate.