Muaythai Federation targets youth development programme in 2021, says Egonu

The Muaythai Federation of Nigerian (MFN), listed as one of the sports to be featured as a demonstration event at the forthcoming National Sports Festival in Benin City, Edo State, has said that the body will begin the year with a developmental programme tagged: “Youths, Sports Is Your Gang”, geared towards catching children young in the sport for future international engagements.

The federation president, Paul Egonu, said the competition, which holds in April, would see Muaythai coaches going to schools to organise tournaments sponsored by the federation to pick the best talents for further training.

Egonu stated that the federation would this year host the first ever national female Muaythai championship, adding that the national women open scheduled for August, will give the female athletes an opportunity to showcase their skills, and enable them to be mentally and physically ready for any major competitions in the future.

The MFN’s boss said that the federation would not relent in keeping strictly with all COVID-19 protocols as advised by medical experts during the federation’s events.

“The Muaythai Federation has lined up series of competitions for 2021. Our programmes were halted last year due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, which affected sports globally last year.

“This year, we are working in tandem with the sports ministry’s framework to discover talented athletes, who will become worthy ambassadors for the country in no distant future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Egonu has congratulated Engr. Nebolisa Anako on his appointment as the new permanent secretary of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development. He was the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Information and Culture

Anako replaced Mr. Gabriel Aduda, who was redeployed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after spending a year at the sports ministry.