The Secretary-General of the Nigeria Gymnastics Federation, Amina Amanchi, on Monday in Abuja said more than 100 gymnasts would participate in the 2019 National Open Gymnastics Championship.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the championship which is to be organised by the NGF is a two-day event holding at the Abuja National Stadium.
Amanchi said the event was organised to select the team of gymnasts which would represent the federation at the African Games in Morocco.
She said the federation has invited all gymnasts who emerged medalists at the 19th National Sports Festival in December to participate in the championship.
She said: “It is an open trial competition for all gymnasts, and we have decided to sponsor athletes so that they will have the opportunity to prove themselves at this championship.
“We will select the best gymnasts. The first eight of every apparatus, and in the male category we have six apparatus and in the female we have five.
“But this is the first trial. So, we cannot determine a specific number we want to select now, because the ministry will give us the number of athletes they are expecting from the federation.”
She said the ministry would organise the national trial which would be the final trial for athletes of all federations.
She said: “The ministry will select the final number of athletes who would represent the country in each federation in Morocco.
“The gymnasts who were selected at our trial will also feature in the national trial. We will select the number the ministry has allocated to our sport.”
NAN reports that the African Games will begin on August 19 in Rabat in Morocco.
