…He should be immortalised – Toblow

Athletics coach Tobias Igwe has called on the National Sports Commission to immortalise the late Sunday Bada by creating a national championship in his honour.

Igwe, fondly called Toblow, said the death of the former Olympian created a vacuum that will be difficult to fill in Nigerian athletics.

Bada was until his death the Technical Director of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, a position he had occupied since 2005.

Toblow said the former world champion was as skilled in problems solving as he excelled on the tracks.

He said, “There is nobody like him in Nigeria’s sports scene; that was why he served twice as the Technical Director.

“Bada won laurels at all levels. He was the most decorated athlete in Nigeria and he should be given a national award for that.

“He invested his youth and resources in athletics so the nation should appreciate him by creating an annual championship in his honour. The competition could be in relay, 400 or 200 metres because those were his specialties.

“I recall how he dealt with some of the problems we had during our preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games when there was no money to feed the athletes in camp. He was the one that paid the caterer and also paid for the gym we used.”