Jonathan Nnaji, the President, Nigeria Modern Pentathlon Federation, says the association is working towards ensuring Nigeria’s sterling performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Nnaji told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos that the sport, relatively new in the country, was developing rapidly and could feature in the 2020 Olympics, if adequately supported.
He said: “We have not gotten to the level where they will start counting that we have not been to the Olympics, we are just three years old.
“The Olympic that made this very federation now will be Japan, and we are working towards that.
“I see it as a sport that Nigeria will be surprised, because when a sport is least expected to perform, you see them springing out surprises.
“We are woking towards the Olympic.’’
On the Just-concluded Laser-Run event which held on July 7 in Lagos, the president said that the participation was encouraging.
He said: “The number of people that participated in this year’s edition was encouraging, compared to the maiden edition in 2017 where only 148 athletes participated.
“This year we had 249 participants who registered.
“The federation is just three years in the making, and we plan to increase participation in our programmes across the country.’’
Nnaji told NAN that plans were at an advance stage to organise the event in Abuja in October, as a way of popularising the sport in the country.
NAN reports that participants at the Laser-Run competed in six categories at the event.
Laser-Run is the latest original creation of the World Pentathlon Body, coming from the combined event and launched in 2015 as the last part of full Modern Pentathlon competition.
Athletes from eight to 80 years can participate and the event can be staged on beaches, in cities and in the countrysides.
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