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An eight-year-old gymnast, Adila Adedeji on Saturday apologised to the government and people of Kwara State for not winning a gold medal at the just concluded African Junior Gymnastics Championship International in South Africa.
Adedeji, who won a silver medal in the floor level in the gymnastics championship in Pretoria, while speaking with newsmen in Abuja, disclosed that she would work harder in the next international event to make the State and the country proud.
She said gymnastics was an amazing sport for every child to have an experience of the sport.
“I dedicate this medal to my country Nigeria. I won silver medal in the floor level in South Africa. Tony International Gymnastics (TIG) is a place to be for any child that loves sports. I’m looking forward to better days ahead to win gold medal in an international competions,” she said.
Adedeji’s mother, Fatima Sidi-Ali, said all the gymnasts made them proud in the competition in South Africa.
“As parents we are proud of them (gymnasts), I am happy to see my daughter doing well in gymnastics. I will like to tell parents to encourage their children in doing the sport; we (parents) should look into our children and find out what aspects of sport they are passionate about and then give them all the support they need to go about it.
“I will continue to give my daughter Adila the necessary support she needs to excel in sports.”
On her part, Amaka Onusiriuka, the mother of Stephanie Onusiriuka who won gold medal in the championship, said she was happy with the performance of her daughter.
She said Stephanie received support from the ministry, because she is one of the beneficiaries of talents hunt programme introduced to athletes by Sunday Dare, the Minister of of Youth and Sports Development.
“I thank the minister Sunday Dare for this great privilege given to my Stephanie.
Mrs Onusiriuka also advised parents and guardians to allow their kids to do any sport they liked.
”There are different sports in the country; they should endeavor to allow them to pick any sport of their choice and they should support them and the sky is the limit for them,” she said.
Stephanie Onusiriuka returned all the glory to God for winning a gold medal in the championship.
“The challenges I encountered during the competition in South Africa is that the competition was very hard and tough.
”I also saw lots of high training facilities which we don’t have in Nigeria. I want to tell TIG to keep on improving with the club.
“The Club has really helped me to improve a lot. In the nearest future, I want to see my self in the next World Championship and Commonwealth Games,” she said.
She said that her next target was to win another gold medal in the upcoming all Africa Games in Ghana.
TNG reports that nine Gymnasts from TIG Club represented the country in the two days Junior African Gymnastics in Pretoria in South Africa from Aug.12 to 13 They won seven medals: Five gold, one silver and one bronze.
Onusiriuka got one million naira and free flight tickets from Air Peace. She won gold in the 2021 National Sports Festival in Edo State.