The Minister of youth and Sports development has charged taekwondo athlete to leave no stone unturned in securing Olympic tickets for the Tokyo 2020 Games, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

Mr Dare stated this when he met with Team Nigeria that just came back from Fujairah Open, where Nigeria won two bronze medals, one of the two African nations to win medals at the World Taekwondo G-2 ranked event.

The Sports Minister’s timely intervention had made it possible for the team to participate in the important preparatory and Olympic ranking event, where the duo of Elizabeth Anayancho and Benjamin Okuomose picked up bronze medals for the nation.

Members of the team that visited the Honourable Minister to present the medals included NTF Secretary General, Mr Yusuf Kabir, three-time Olympian and NTF Technical Director Engr. Chika Chukwumerije, National Coach John Victor, Team Captain and African Champion, Chinazum Nwosu, African Bronze Medalists and bronze medal winners at Fujairah Open, Benjamin Okuomose and Elizabeth Anyanacho, and Nigeria Open Gold Medalist, Ifeoluwa Ajayi.

Also present at the occasion were the Director-General of NYSC, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim FSS MSS DSS PhD, and retired football professional and international player, Daniel Amokachi, who was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR as the Nation’s Football Ambassador.

In a nod to the positive preparations of the team, the Sports Minister thanked the athletes for their service to the nation at the just concluded international event and reiterated his promise to support the team on their quest to qualify for the Olympics.

“I have seen how you have been working hard and how your technical crew has also been putting in the hours to ensure you secure the ticket. I thank you for your performance in Fujairah. You can be rest assured that we will keep supporting you until you secure your tickets to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It is left for you to go and secure the tickets in Morocco.”

The Honourable Minister also expressed his delight at the young age range of the team.

“What makes me happy is to see how young the team is. When a team involves persons with the age range of 16 to 24, then that it truly about youth and sports. These kinds of persons can be developed for both the short and long term”

Speaking on behalf of the Team, Captain Chinazum Nwosu thanked the Honourable Minister by presenting a Taekwondo uniform to Mr Sunday Dare as the athletes’ appreciation for the Sport Minister’s support and encouragement.

“We are delighted by the support and encouragement given to us by just meeting with us to thank and encourage us. It goes a long way and we promise that our team will work very hard to clinch the Olympic tickets in a fortnight.”

The African Qualification Tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for the Taekwondo event will be taking place 20 – 24 February 2020 in Rabat, Morocco.