Yesterday, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) received the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award The Rio 2016 Scholarships to 12 outstanding Nigerian athletes.
Accoding to ThisdayLive, the Secretary General of NOC, Hon. Tunde Popoola explained that the scholarship programme was introduced to support and enable the athletes prepare – under good conditions – for the Olympics.
The 12 athletes are poised to pocket an unspecified amount of money from now till the Rio Olympics; however, one was dropped after allegations of doping emerged.
Blessing Okagabare (Athletics) heads the list of the 11 approved beneficiaries. Others include: Nneka Reginald (Athletics), Ese Brume (Athletics), Christian Amaechi Morton (Athletics), and Divine Oduduru (Athletics).
Maryam Usman (Weightlifting), Victoria O. Adesanmi (Weightlifting), Aruna Quadri (Table Tennis), Edem Offiong (Table Tennis), Jonathan Akinyemi (Canoe/Kayak) and Adekuoroye Odumayo (Wrestling) also made the list. The Nigerian athletes were selected through the nomination of the Nigeria Olympic Committee with their various sports federations.
Nigerians have benefited from this scholarship programme in the past. Before the London 2012 Olympics, nine Nigerian elite athletes were selected for Olympic Scholarships.
NOC and the Nigerian team are hoping to exorcise the demons and make up for their dreadful performance in 2012 at the London Olympics with a much better display in Rio, Brazil.
