The search to select formidable athletes for the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships has compelled the Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria (KBFN) to invite 20 athletes to a national camp to prove their worth.
TheNewsGuru reports that Nigeria will feature in the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships in Budapest, Hungary from Nov. 3 to Nov. 12.
KBFN Technical Director Wilson Okon told Sports Jhttp://thenewsguru.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=89325&action=editournalists on Thursday in Lagos that the athletes comprised of 14 males and 6 females invited on their individual performances and national records.
Okon said that the camp would hold in the Bayelsa State Sports Council, from Oct. 20 to Oct. 30, and the invited athletes and the coaching crew are expected to comply with the directive.
“In 2015, we participated in the championships and our athletes lost in the quarter-finals because of inadequate preparation, so, we are doing everything possible to avoid a recurrence of unpleasant experience.
“It is on that note that we deemed it necessary to organise this camp and the Bayelsa State Sports Council accepted to host the programme which is starting tomorrow,’’ he said.
He said that the invited athletes were gold and silver medalists in their categories at the 2017 National Championships held in Lagos and Ilorin in June respectively.
The director told NAN that the West Africa Championships in Ghana in July was also another opportunity for the national champions to prove their competence, hence their selection for the camp.
“We want the champions to prove themselves again because there will be internal trials during the camp because our target is to get the best ten for the championships,’’ he said.
Okon appealed to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to provide basic support to enable the athletes participate in the championships by offsetting the WAKO affiliation fee.