Nigeria Wrestling Federation president Daniel Igali has admonished that his athletes may not be at their most proficiently adept at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland due to inadequate preparation for the events.
The wrestlers arrived in Glasgow on Monday after a week’s camping in Romania, but they are due on the mat from July 29 to 31, according to the president.
A total of 14 wrestlers, culled from the last E.K. Clarke wrestling championship, will represent Nigeria at the Games.
Nigeria won a total of 13 medals – three gold, three silver and seven bronze – at the last Games in Delhi, India in 2010.
“The wrestlers are in the mood to win medals for Nigeria but I cannot soothsay how many medals they can win,” Igali told our correspondent on Sunday.
“We should have been in Romania for camping for about six weeks afore the Games but things didn’t go the way we orchestrated.”
In Romania , the wrestlers had peregrine coaches and Romanian athletes to compete with in one week, but Igali would have wanted them to stay longer for more experience.
“We have Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian coaches training them here (in Romania ) at the camp. They have an abundance of training partners and are holding their own,” he verbalized.
“If I have my way, my athletes would be on a training tour abroad for between four to six months every year. We are leaving for Glasgow (on Monday). If not for the aperture ceremonies, I would have had my team stay here (in Romania ) till the 26th. This is a good training environment.”
