The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), the organisers of the forthcoming first edition of the Michael Opeyemi Bamidele National Taekwondo championship, has concluded arrangements to train the officials of the two-day event ahead of the competition.
September 16 is the date fixed for the training which will be just two days ahead of the taekwondo championship scheduled to start on September 18 at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.
The President of the NTF, Tayo Popoola, at the weekend explained that the training was important because everything about the forthcoming competition would be organized in accordance with the global standards.
“What we are doing is to ensure we stage the event with all aspect in conformity with best practices all over the world. It’s the usual practice and so we engage them on Wednesday ahead of the event starting on Friday,” Popoola said.
A former Commissioner for Sports and ex- Commissioner for Information and strategy in Lagos State, Opeyemi Bamidele, is the sponsor of the tournament expected to be part of the build-up of the NTF for future international engagements.
Bamidele, a Senator of the Federal Republic, sees sports as one of the ways of promoting unity and boosting youth empowerment. He has encouraged different sporting events in the past.
All the states of the federation and Abuja are expected to participate in the forthcoming event along with clubs all over the country just as the para military bodies have also signified intention to be part of the event.
NTF has been flexible with the registration as states and clubs are still free to register till date.
“Because it is the first edition, registration is still ongoing. We are just excited that the responses have been very encouraging and we are optimistic of a very good championship in Lagos,” Popoola added.