Nigeria will be represented by a four-man team at the Olympic Continental Qualifying tournaments for taekwondo taking place in Dakar, Senegal from February 10 to 11.
According to Coach Victor John, the contingent is made up of two male and two female including Nigeria’s highest ranked taekwondist in the world, Elizabeth Anyanacho who is based in Germany under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship scheme.
Others expected to make the trip to Dakar include Benjamin Okumose, Chinazum Nwosu and Ifeoluwa Ajayi.
“I am confident that we can qualify more than an athlete for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games because most of the athletes are experienced having attended previous qualifiers and medallists at the last African Games in Morocco.
“Like Okumose, a silver medallist at the 2019 African Games, will be competing in the men’s +80kg, and he narrowly lost the gold medal at the 2022 African Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. He is in the best shape of his life for the qualifiers. I am sure he is a contender for a slot at the Olympic Games,” he said.
Nwosu, a gold medallist at the 2019 African Games. “She is a familiar face at the Olympics qualifiers having competed in previous editions without making it and I am sure this time around that she will be competing in the women’s -49kg, she has the chance to pick one of the two tickets at stake,” Victor added.
“Anyanacho is a sure athlete for us because her main rival, Ruth Gbagbe of Cote d’Ivoire will not be competing having qualified through the world ranking while Anyanacho has also defeated her Egyptian rival at the last African championships, so she is in good position to return to the Olympic Games after a disappointing outing at her maiden outing in Tokyo,” the coach said.
However, the coach described Ajayi as a debutant whose experience locally would count in Dakar. “Ajayi has dominated three weight categories at home and being his first Olympic Games qualifiers, I am sure he can spring a surprise in Dakar with his current form in camp,” Victor explained.
The three-man team based in Abuja has been in camp since January 13 under the tutelage of a four-man technical crew led by coach John and they are expected to team up with Anyanacho in Dakar for the qualifiers next month.