A total of 42 judokas have been invited to camp ahead of the All African Games (AAG), billed for Congo Brazzaville in September, 2015.
The judokas who were twenty-one male and Twenty-one female athletes were picked from eighty-five athletes from sixteen states and clubs that participated in the just concluded national trials conducted by the Nigeria Judo Federation, (NJF), in Abuja.
President, Nigeria Judo Federation, Musa Oshodi, acknowledged that the trials was a huge success as the event which was earlier scheduled to hold last Friday was delayed till Saturday because of low turnout of athletes for the trials geared at selecting judokas for the AAG.
Oshodi, who is optimistic of a good outing at the All African Games, said the Federation would surpass the National Sports Commission, NSC, target of four Gold medals as he stressed that the NJF have good, proficient athletes who are capable of winning more than four Gold medals at the Games.
He mentioned Esther Augustine, who won a gold medal in the 63 kilogram at the 2014 Africa Judo championship which was a pre-requisite for the last commonwealth games in Scotland as well as Eniafe Solomon and Patrick Issah, who are currently in North Korea for the FISU games as one of the reliable judokas whom the federation believe would make the nation proud with adequate support.
As part of efforts to make the athletes to excel at the Games would embark on a training tour of West African countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Benin and Cameroon with the support of Nigeria Sports Commission.
He assumed that NJF had resolved to organise regular competitions, coaches and referees seminars after the crisis rocking the federation has been resolved.