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DARE HAILS IOC AS NIGERIAN ATHLETES GET TOKYO 2020 LIFELINE

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has cleared the cloud of uncertainty that had gathered over the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualifiers involving Nigerian athletes.


The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics by a year as a result of the spread of Covid-19 scourge had cast a shadow of doubt  over most of the qualifiers that were  yet to be completed.


Respite has however come for the Nigerian athletes alongside their counterparts from other countries that were yet to complete their qualifiers as the IOC has fixed new dates for the qualifiers.  


According to a letter written to all members of the International Olympic committee, non completed qualifiers have now been extended till the end of June 2021,  a week  grace before the final deadline of July 5th, 18 days before the Olympics  gets underway on July 23rd, 2021.


According to the IOC ” We understand at these times that these are unlikely to include full details of the dates and locations of the specified events.

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We recognise that this would follow later as the impacts of the Covid-19   and it’s related restrictions become clearer,” the letter stated.
Fifty seven percent of the11, 000 athletes that would be participating at the Tokyo Olympics had qualified before the event was moved by a year due to the pandemic.


The IOC said it would finalize the adapted qualification system later in the month.


The Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare as a welcome development have commended this cheering news for Nigerian athletes.

“We are excited that the IOC has granted this concession so that those qualifiers can be completed.  This will give the athletes ample time to prepare. 

“Also, we now have enough time to make funds available to those sports federations that had yet to complete their qualifiers. 

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“We are monitoring all our athletes and we believe they are training well despite the world – wide lockdown “

He assured that Nigeria  would stick to the earlier stance to feature in only 11 events  at the games  in order to enhance  her chances of performing  well.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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