Nigeria Content Online

Athletes
in Lagos State have shifted their focus from the often postponed
National Sports Festival, to the upcoming National All Comers
Tournament billed to kick-off next week.

The National Sports
Festival had been scheduled to take place in Port Harcourt at the end
of February, but it has been postponed till June. The decision to hold
the festival in June marks the third time it will be postponed, forcing
athletes to turn their attention to other competitions.

Yesterday, many
athletes were at the National Stadium, Lagos, preparing vigorously for
the first leg of the All Comers Tournament coming up on Friday,
February 18 at the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan.

With the National
Festival out of the way for now the All Comers tourney is generating
all the buzz, particularly as it is the maiden athletics meet of the
year.

Folake Atoyebi, a 100m and 200m sprinter, is looking forward to her first time of competing at the two-day event.

“I am very excited to be competing in this tournament,” the 20-year-old said.

“You know it is a national competition and I want to be able to do my best so that all efforts would not be in vain.”

Another athlete,
Femi Akinwale, is also getting himself into proper shape for the trip
to Ibadan. “You know this is the first competition to be held this year
and I believe that a person who wants to end well must be able to begin
well,” Akinwale said before commenting on the state of sport
facilities.

“There are no
proper facilities to make our preparation easier and that is killing
the interest of people in the sport,” he added.

“I would like to
enjoin the relevant authorities to do something to improve the paucity
of facilities because when you have the correct tools for your work,
you will be able to prepare and function effectively.”

Kola Adebayo, an
athletics coach, however, explained that despite all odds, work has to
just continue. “Though we are not satisfied with the way things are, we
are however happy that we have the opportunity to at least train some
athletes for something,” he said, before giving kudos to the Athletic
Federation of Nigeria, for the Meet initiative.

“They have given us a programme of events for the year and as far as
people are ready to compete, we will also be ready to prepare them for
the competitions that have been slated,” Adebayo concluded.