Sports Minister, Senator John Owen Enoh, has been urged to investigatethe alleged poor condition of the nation’s boxers, who were said to have resorted to begging to survive in Bangkok, Thailand, venue of the final Olympic Games’ qualifying championship.
Yesterday, an online report, newstap.com.ng, painted a sordid picture of five Nigerian boxers at the qualifiers, who have urged the sports minister to come to their rescue in the Southeast Asian country.
The team made up of one male and four female boxers under the guidance of two coaches arrived in Thailand on May 20 for the qualifiers, which ended yesterday.
A member of the team, who pleaded anonymity, decried a situation where only $200 was given to the coaches with each boxer getting $100, saying it is grossly inadequate to sustain them throughout the qualifiers considering the high cost of living in the host country.
“I want you to help us tell the Minister of Sports Development that we are really suffering here at the qualifiers, and this accounted for why only two of us; Patricia Mbata, and Zainab Adeshina made it to the quarterfinals.
“Our problem started immediately we left Nigeria with Turkish Airways on May 19. We left the country without any allowance and spent about 10 hours in Istanbul, Turkey waiting for a connecting flight to Bangkok without any food or water.
“We know we are going to face the same ordeal on our way back to Nigeria. That is why we are crying out now,” one of the boxers said on Saturday.
“When the Secretary General of the Boxing Federation handed over the paltry allowance to us, he promised that efforts were being made for more funds to be sent to us, but 24 hours to the end of the qualifiers, we have not gotten any other money or any information to that effect.
“Right now, we have exhausted the cash with us and our situation is very pathetic. This practice has been on for a long because even when our boxers participated in last year’s qualifiers in Senegal, they went there without any allowance but only got promises that they would be paid later, which the Sports Ministry has not done till now.
“Right now, out of a contingent of 13, made up of 10 boxers and three coaches that participated in the qualifiers in Senegal, only two boxers and a coach have received their bonuses, leaving out the rest. So, we are worried that the same fate might befall us and that is why we are calling on the Sports Minister to urgently look into our case and ensure we don’t turn to fugitives in Thailand.
“It is equally important to inform you that our accommodation will expire by 12 noon Monday (today), which means that after checking out of our rooms, we will be hanging out for about 11 hours without food or water, since our flight to Turkey is by 11.00 p.m. Thailand’s time, and so we don’t know how to cope with the situation without money.
“That is why we are making this appeal for urgent help to come to us. We know that the Sports Minister is a visionary leader, who has introduced a lot of reforms aimed at improving the welfare of athletes since his assumption of office. He should look into our plight and ensure that all our outstanding allowances are paid.”
When The Guardian contacted the Sports Minister, Senator Enoh, on the issue, yesterday, he simply responded: “Let me investigate.”
Meanwhile, female boxer, Zainab Adeshina joined Patricia Mbata in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games qualifiers on Saturday when she defeated Jordan’s Nassar Hanan.
Fighting in the 50 kg weight category, Adeshina recorded a 3-2 split decision victory to qualify for the quarterfinals of the highly competitive event.
Sensational fighter, Patricia Mbata, was one win away from qualifying for the women’s Olympic Games as at the time of this report yesterday.
United Kingdom-based Nigerian pugilist, Mbata, had earlier on Saturday defeated Brazil’s Vivianne Pareira 4-1 in the round of 16 to qualify for the quarterfinals. A win for both boxers in the quarterfinals will land them in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
