Emmanuel Emefuna, Technical Director, Lagos Swimming Association, has advocated for more national competitions to discover talents from the grassroots.
Emefuna was speaking on the heels of Team Nigeria’s poor performance in swimming at the ongoing All-African Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that organising local competitions for swimmers would help prepare and expose them to international competitions.
“With these local competitions, we will be developing swimming in the country,’’ he said.
Emefuna urged the Lagos State Sports Council under the new administration to focus on discovery of new talents and organising competitions for swimmers to develop.
He noted that discovery and nurturing of talents was key to the development of swimming and other sports in the state.
“The new administration must put credible people at the helm of affairs in the Sports council to improve grassroots sports development.
“This must be achieved by organising inter-school competitions and good competitions can be achieved through adequate funding.
“This in turn can lead to a functional sports timetable which will be of benefit to the association throughout the year,” he said.
The technical director also said that swimming would be developed in the country if capable board members were elected to pilot the affairs of the various state chapters.
He said: “Swimming will improve if we have good administration alongside good sponsorship drive and accountability.
NAN
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