President of the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) Dr Musa Oshodi has made a passionate appeal to government at all levels to complement the efforts being made by the body towards the growth and development of the sports in the country.
Dr Oshodi who made the appeal stated that the body has already set up a sponsorship and marketing committee which has worked assiduously towards generating funds and sponsorship towards organizing and attending championships within Nigeria and abroad.
He disclosed that to enhance the growth of Judo in the country, government at all levels will need to complement the effort being made by the federation towards generating funds for the growth of the sports in Nigeria.
The Judo President noted that the body will hold a Judo championship in October 28,2024 at Abuja where all the sporting zones will converge to determine the judokas who will be nurtured and groomed apart from using the championship to celebrate the birthday of the founder of the sports ,Jigoro Kanu who is a Japanese just as he said that various zones have just finished their own zonal elimination to determine the athletes to be featured at the championship which is held by every quarter with the aim of fine tuning existing ones besides discovering new ones.
He said further that the federation is in the process of helping their judokas to garner more points which will qualify them for international competitions adding that very soon, three or four will have secured enough points to be eligible for international championship.
Dr Oshodi posited that the only problem militating against featuring athletes for international competitions outside points garnered over the years is funds which can run in to millions observing that the last one he attended alongside an athlete was in the region of six million naira which will have to be multiplied if the number of the athletes increased to six or thereabout
