Lagos – Emmanuel Peters, the Technical Director, Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria (KFN), on Thursday urged the three tiers of government to ensure the development of the sport from the grassroots.
Peters said in a telephone interview in Lagos that the development of the sport at the grassroots should spread across the all arms of government.
The director noted that their collective supports would provide means through which training programmes and championships would be organised.
"As a growing sport, we need assistance from the local, state and the Federal Governments to draw out programmes that will bring together upcoming athletes from the grassroots,'' he said.
According to him, the martial art sport, officially recognised by the National Sports Commission (NSC) in 2006, has potential of winning lots of laurels for Nigeria in international events.
"There are 36 various categories for both male and female in the sport, you can see that kickboxing is a laurel winning sport that requires commitment to get there,'' he said.
The director added that lack of regular competitions was affecting the zeal of upcoming athletes, especially at the grassroots, which he said was not good for the young sport.
"As an upcoming sport, the talents are there, eager to engage in competitions but are not getting the encouragement due to lack of support from the appropriate arms,'' he added.
Peters then appealed to the concerned authorities to listen to their plea by way of financial support, provision of training materials and incentives for outstanding athletes with peculiar performance in competition.
"We call for support of material and cash donation because it will really help us to organise competition for young athletes to display their skills and be discovered for future competitions,'' he said.
He said the association has embarked on aggressive sponsorship drive in various states and local governments to create awareness and to ensure that the sport gets adequate attention. (NAN)
