Players’ representative on the board of the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF), Segun Gbayi has appealed to sports minister, Bolaji Abdulahi and Director-General Gbenga Eleg-beleye not to let the sport of Judo die a premature  death through its exclusion  in the forthcoming National Youth Sports Festival.

A visibly angry Gbayi expressed disappoi-ntment over the repla-cement of Judo with Rugby in the youth sports festival, tagging the decision “a  big blow to the future of Nigerian Judo”. “First of all, the entire board of the Nigeria Judo Federation is sad and pained by the decision to dump Judo at a time our youth development progra-mme is climaxing.

“Our Judokas have been training ahead of the youth games in December and they have been shattered by this sad development. Judo is a developmental sport and the board’s target of producing tomorrow’s stars today has been dislocated by this sad decision,”said Gbayi who has appealed to both the sports minister and Director-General of the NSC to reverse the decision..

“We are pleading on behalf of the Judokas. that the NSC allows Judo youths to feature in the December Youth Games. The present board was the first to organize a tournament immediately after the inauguration in Abuja. The youth judokas have been training in the last seven months and the NSC should lift their spirits through the readmission of Judo in the youth sports festival,” he stressed.