As part of preparations for the country’s successful outing at the forthcoming Junior World Championships billed for United States (U.S.) in October, the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) is organising a National U-17 Championship.
Judokas in action
The championship is billed to hold at the Civil Defence Games Village, Sauka, Abuja, from September 11 to 13.
Vice president of the federation, Damisa Suleiman, in a chat with TheNiche said the national championship will be used to select judokas that will represent the country at the World Championships.
He said: “We don’t want to take chances. We want to organise the national championship, so that we can pick the best materials in the country for the World Championships.
“Invitation to participate in the national championships is open to all states and for junior players that fall within the age category.”
Suleiman reiterated the determination and desire of the present board of the NJF to move the game of judo forward in the country.
He said: “After some years of playing minnows on the big stage, Nigerian judo is now rearing to go and ready to take the international circuit by storm.
“All hands would be deck to ensure that we move the game forward in the country. We are happy to have a judoka as the president of the federation now in person of Dr. Musa Oshodi.
“He (Oshodi) has promised to join hands with us and move the game forward, and we will all do our best to achieve the set goals of the new board.”
He promised that his board would provide the leadership to put the country among the best judo nations in the world.
“We have developed a roadmap which will revolutionise our judo. Apart from exposing our judokas to regular competitions locally and internationally, we will also invest massively in the education of the technical personnel, the coaches, and the referees.
“Then we will also make our presence felt in the international judo politics by getting Nigerians into key organs of the African Judo Union (AJU) and International Judo Federation (IJF),” he added.
