The participation of athletes with international exposure in the National Sports Festival is negatively affecting the development of sports in Nigeria, Anambra sports commission boss Patrick Onyedum said.

Onyedum said the practice is fuelled by states’ desperation to amass medals, especially gold, at the national sports meet.

The former athlete argued in Asaba on Wednesday that NSF was supposed to be an arena where states presented products of their developmental programme every two years for national competition and not an end in itself. 

He expressed worry that athletes who had represented the country at international competitions, including the Olympics in senior category, still found their way to compete for states at NSF. 

He said, “Why should world class athletes be here doing this with athletes from academies, secondary schools and universities?” 

Onyedum called on the Federal Ministry of Sports to review the festival policy and enforce the rule that elite athletes who have represented Nigeria would not take part in the festival any longer.

Onyedum said the review of the policy should be immediate so that the gold rush plaguing the festival did not inform the quality of athletes that would feature in next edition. 

“In our time, if you represented Nigeria twice, you would not be allowed to take part in the festival, that is some of us who went to national camp did not compete at the festival.

(NAN)