Nigeria's coach to Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, Adegboye Onigbinde, has said Nigeria does not deserve to win a medal in the ongoing London Olympic Games.
Onigbinde, who spoke with our correspondent in a telephone interview, on Thursday, said the country did not prepare for the games.
He said winning a medal at the Olympics takes 12 years of adequate preparation and that the Team Nigeria’s preparation was not enough to produce winners in a competition like the Olympics, where only the best compete. The FIFA tactician added that he was not disappointed at the dismal showing of the Nigerian contingent to the Olympics.
He said, “Look at the William sisters; do you know how many years it took their father to take them to that height?”
Things started looking bad for Nigeria in London when all the table tennis players were knocked out early at the Games. Among them was Segun Toriola, who attended his sixth Olympics. Onigbinde says Nigeria should invest in young athletes who have medal hopes.
“Look at the average age China, USA, Britain, Korea brought to the Olympics. Look at the average age of our athletes to the Olympics. What is the average age of our table tennis players?
“Africans are physically endowed. That’s why you see athletes of African descent amassing medals at the games for even western nations but this is not the case for Nigerians.”
Calling on the people in charge of sports in Nigeria to embrace modern standard in the preparation of athletes for competition, the CAF instructor said Nigeria must separate developmental programme from competition.
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