Sport entertainment taekwondo holds Saturday in Abuja

The Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) will hold the sixth CCSF Invitational Taekwondo Open on Saturday at the Indoor Basketball Hall of the M.K.O Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

According to the foundation, 100 youth athletes, comprising 64 men and 36 women, from six Abuja-based clubs are confirmed for the event. The FCT Taekwondo Association sanctioned event will use an electronic display scoring system, while the competition will be in a round robin format to ensure participants get enough exposure and experience.

To engage spectators, the organisers said they had injected many fun activities into the event. These include a free morning aerobic/fitness class, fun table tennis and video games areas and a bouncing castle for children.

Vendors have also been engaged to provide food and drinks to spectators, and DJs will liven the atmosphere with music all day, they said. To cap off the day, an outdoor dance-off competition will help thrill FCT residents to a sports entertainment themed event, CCSF said.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Medalist and CCSF founder, Chika Chukwumerije, highlighted the importance of fusing entertainment with sports to the development of grassroots sports in Nigeria.

“We want to organise an event that anybody would want to come to on a Saturday morning in a summer holiday. The public longs for and deserve these kinds of programmes regularly and sports has always been perfectly poised to satisfy this demand, while simultaneously developing sports at the grassroots.”

The country’s captain to the London 2012 Olympics and former African Champion promised a well-organised event that would be memorable for both competitors and spectators.

“We want young athletes to be properly exposed, so it is important for officiating to be fair and transparent and operations to run without hitches. We also want our guests who come to the event to have a great time experiencing various things,” he said.

Chukwumerije, who took a sabbatical after successfully guiding Nigeria’s second ever female Taekwondo Olympian, Elizabeth Anyanacho, to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, explained the current target of his foundation.