News

July 18, 2018

Training: Anambra athletes locked out of Awka Township Stadium

Some athletes in Awka, Anambra capital, were locked out of the Awka Township Stadium, preventing them from carrying out their day-to-day routine training, news,em  report.

A Correspondent of newsmen who visited the stadium reports that the facility was under lock with some security agents keeping guard.

Previously, the stadium was used for football matches, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting and other indoor games.

One of the athletes who spoke to newsmen anonymously, said they had not been able to train for more than two weeks.

He added that some of them who were preparing for competitions could no longer continue because the equipment for their training were all in the makeshift indoor sports hall.

“We don’t know where to lay our complaints as there was no longer a ministry in charge of sports, and the proposed Sports Commission could not be traced to any known office.

“We no longer know what is happening to sports in Anambra, this is where we have been training for a long time; our success in all the competitions we have attended started from Awka Township Stadium.

“This stadium has been closed for more than two weeks now, we cannot go inside to train again, and we know it is the government, but we don’t know who to talk to.

“Our appeal is that even though they are not working on it again, it is still useful to us to train for wrestling, boxing, weightlifting and even football.

“This is the only training centre we have in the whole of Awka, so we want the government to open it for us so that we can still be training until they decide on what they want to do with sports in the state,’’ he said.

When contacted by newsmen, Tony Oli, Chairman of the proposed Anambra Sports Commission, said he ordered for the closure of the stadium.

Oli said the place they were using for training was not befitting for the state and dismissed the claim that the Anambra Government wanted to concession the stadium.

“Yes, I closed that stadium because the place they train is not befitting, no normal human being can train in that place even the entrance has been taken over by artisans and motor park people.

“Again, it is a government property and not a place anybody can go in and come out the way they like, we want to get it right.

“It is not true that we want to concession the place,” he said.

NAN