Former Secretary General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Elias Gora, has urged the National Sports Commission (NSC) to groom the newly-discovered athletes by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Gora made the call yesterday in Lagos while stressing the importance of early grooming of the discovered athletes ahead of the Games in Brazil.

He said, “NSC should support the AFN in their bid to raise the athletes, who will replace the aging ones”.

The athletes were those discovered at the 3rd D.K. Olukoya U-18 Athletics Championships in Lagos, who represented the country at the maiden Africa Youth Championships (AYAC) in Warri, Delta.

Nigeria won the competition in which 34 African countries participated with 13 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals.

Gora said that the NSC needed to forge a stronger relationship with the AFN in the latter’s strive to discover and nurture new talents to replace the ageing athletes.

Gora, who was Chef de Mission at the 2011 New Delhi Commonwealth Games in India, said that if the commission showed more support to AFN, Nigeria might do well in subsequent international competitions.

“If the commission will work and support the federation, I think in the next three to four years, Nigeria will have hope in the 2016 Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

“But if such advantages are not taken, then I’m afraid that we will be back to square one, if not worse.

“This is because virtually all our elite athletes are either banned or aged and are on their way out.

“The younger ones we are discovering are our hope and I hope they will be sustained,” Gora said.

He said that the AFN was beginning to wake up to its responsibilities and should sustain the talents discovered at the AYAC with intensive training, to mould them.

“In the events we have won and even the ones we did not win, we should endeavour to nurture them.

“They need role models to inspire them; we have done this before and it worked, we can do it again.

“The NSC needs to show more moral and financial support to AFN and I thank the Delta Government for bankrolling the just-concluded championships in Warri,” he added.