Athletes on the track
Chief Patrick Ekeji, a former Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), said that Nigeria’s second place finish at the just-concluded African Games was the best way of reestablishing Nigeria’s sports prowess in Africa.

The Team Nigeria garnered 47 gold, 55 silver and 42 bronze to finish overall second behind Egypt which emerged as overall champions of the Games hosted by Congo.
Ekeji said in Abuja that with good strategy and implementation, Nigeria would take its place in sports in Africa.
``That is good for our sports; it just goes to say that with articulated strategy, we can achieve so much.
``If the funds were available, the country will have entered for more sporting events; not entering in all of the sports means we were already short of some medals before we got into the Games.
``Second place is respectable and what this simply means is that with a good strategy and implementation we can achieve what we want to achieve,’’ Ekeji said.
He, however, urged the NSC to immediately commence preparation for the 2016 Olympics, saying that the achievement at the African Games was not a guarantee for a successful outing at the Olympics.
``This achievement is not significant for achieving success at the Olympics for certain reasons.
``Firstly, the African Games is not a qualification competition; that you did well at the African Games does not automatically give you a qualification for the Olympic Games.
``Again, the African Games is not a world standard competition where you measure the depth and that is why best African athletes ranked among the best in the world in their various sports don’t participate.
``This is because for them, African Games does not signify anything since it is not properly sponsored,’’ he said.

The former NSC DG urged the sports administrators to leverage on the country’s achievement at the Games to develop sports at the grassroots