Prince Nsirim who spoke to judoblitzng.com exclusively in Ibadan during the National Judo

Championship, at the weekend said a process had been set in motion to achieve the dream of having Nigeria back at the sports summit.

 Nigeria failed to qualify for the London Olympics last year, interrupting a twenty year run in the quadrennial games from her debut in Seoul 1988 Olympics.

 According to the president “Our board was inaugurated in May and the first decision we took was how to ensure that Nigeria is represented during the Rio Olympics in 2016. We have started that journey to Rio through this championship”.

 Nsirim stressed that though the Olympics would take place three years away in the Brazilian city of Rio, the qualifying tournaments for the judo event had commenced. “For judo the qualifying tournaments that will lead to the Olympics have commenced and we have missed some because of the time our board came in. We have a lot of such tournaments ahead and we will endeavour to attend all of them to boost our chances of qualifying for the Olympics”.

 The NJF chief noted that the task ahead was onerous but was quick to add that his board was determined to take Nigerian judo to a new level. To achieve the goals of repositioning judo, Nsirim appealed to the government and corporate organisations to assist the federation with funds.

 He declared “The battle to reposition Nigerian judo should not be left to the board alone. We are appealing to government and corporate organizations to come to our aid because judo is not only a sport that has brought honour to the country in the past, it has also engaged the youth in productive activities and thereby discouraged them from anti-social activities.”

 Nsirim said the federation will ensure regular competitions so as to raise the standard of the sport in the country.