Nigeria: How Korean Embassy Scuttled Country’s Team Training Tour

The Moment (London)

Idu Jude

27 July 2011

Abuja — President of Judo Federation of Nigeria (JFN), Alhaji Isa Matori, has thrown his weight behind the National Sports Commission (NSC) on its decision to cancel the proposed foreign training tour for all Nigerian athletes in preparation for the 2011 All African Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

The leadership of some sports associations and federations had accused the NSC of sabotaging the foreign tour, and had threatened to go to court to demand for a refund of all expenditure made in that respect.

Matori advised those heading for court to be well informed of the situation before making such moves.

Speaking in an interview with The Moment in Abuja, Matori enlightened some federation presidents accusing the sports commission over the cancellation that the decision was a collective one taken by all the sports federations, sequel to the delay in visa procurement from the Korean embassy.

“I must tell you that this decision was jointly taken by all parties involved, and I would like to state here that there is no cause for alarm. We are trying to see how best the athletes can shape up for the All African games,” he said.

Explaining the reasons for the cancellation, Matori blamed it on the frustrating excuses offered by the Korean Embassy in the issuance of visa to all athletes for the training tour.

“We just got frustrated by the Korean Embassy; they came up with several excuses. The first requested for bio-data of all the athletes, and after that, they asked for bank details of all the athletes and other details, which are not easily met by the athletes.

“They forgot that these boys and girls are just athletes not businessmen and women on business trips,” said Matori.

Speaking on the preparation of the Judo federation, Matori said that the cancellation of the trip would in no measure affect his team as they had already put that behind them and are forging ahead. He, however, urged other federations to do the same thing.

“We don’t have to cry over spilt milk, the issue is for all necessary actions to be taken to achieve some important goal, that is winning medals for Nigeria in the games, not to be here casting aspersions at each other.”

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