BY JUDE OPARA

ABUJA-The President of the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) Alhaji Nasiru  Yusuf Gawuna has advised the Ministry of Youth and Sports to use the forthcoming National Youth Games slated for Ilorin, Kwara State to discover talented athletes that will represent the country at international meets.

In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, Gawuna said that what should be paramount in the thinking of the sports administrators must be how best talents would be discovered ahead of the 2024 Olympics.

He said that every effort must be put in place to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing outing of the country in the last two Olympic Games in London and Brazil.

According to him, the era of participating in the Olympics just for the fun of it by should be over unless the talents discovered at the games would be given the necessary training which will help them get international exposure before the big stage.

“The fire brigade approach of sports administrators in preparing the sportsmen and women for international engagements had often resulted to dismal performance of the country at the world stage.

“What the country needed now is not just the gathering of sports enthusiasts on the way forward but a holistic approach on keeping in touch with sports developments at the grassroot as well as helping in ensuring the talents discovered are well groomed for future glory.”

The YSFON president who described the nation’s dismal outing in the just concluded Rio Olympics as a wake up call, said that the Sports ministry should ensure age cheats were not allowed in the Youth Games.