By Solomon Nwoke

Nigeria Amateur Boxing Federation (NABF) president, Rotimi George-Taylor has explained why Nigerian boxers failed to perform at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India

*Rotimi George-Taylor

The embattled NABF boss said in a chat with Sports Vanguard in Lagos that inadequate training and the imposition of an unknown technical adviser on the federation by the National Sports Commission (NSC) were the major reasons Nigerian pugilists failed in India.

He said the boxers would have done better if left under Coach Obisia Nwankpa, but the NSC hijacked the federation and handed it to one Idika Nsofor as the technical adviser of NABF. He said the technical adviser did the selection of the boxers and the coaches to work with him during the Games.

Contrary to the allegation by coach Obisia Nwankpa that the NABF boss was responsible for his exclusion from the boxing team, the Ogun state-born administrator said he did not appoint Idika Nsofor, as the Technical Adviser to the Federation, but the Director General of the Spots Commission, Chief Patrick Ekeji did.

George-Taylor said, “ I have never selected any boxers for the federation because that would amount to taking over the job of the technical adviser or the coach.

“The Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC),  Patrick Ekeji gave an official letter from NSC saying this is technical adviser in the person of Idika Nsofor and eventually he was rectified by the board of the boxing federation. . I have no power to challenge or question the decision of the director general who is my boss.

“Nsofor did the whole selection of the team to New Delhi. So basically, I had no input in that and I didn’t impose Nsofor on the other coaches as alleged by Nwankpa. He’s a staff of NSC and was employed by him and brought to us a technical adviser”.

Continuing, he said, “the National Sports Commission took over the team from me, making it impossible for me to be privy to the developments in camp, the boxers did not train as was required of a team bound for a major event like the Commonwealth Games.

“Instead of a foreign training tour, the team was camped in Benin City and later Lagos for the final lap of its training before its departure for India”.