I’m sad only 2 boxers will represent Nigeria at Rio Olympics — Coach

A former National Boxing Head Coach, Isaac Ikhuoria, on Friday expressed sadness that only two boxers qualified to represent Nigeria at the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that out of the 10 boxers (seven men and three women) that participated in the qualifying bouts at Yaoundé, Cameroon, only two boxers qualified to represent Nigeria in Rio.

The qualified boxers are Efe Ajagba and Caroline Linus.

Ikhuoria, who won a bronze medal in the middle weight category at the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany, said in Lagos that Nigerian boxers were not exposed to regular boxing competitions the way they should.

“I am not happy about it; it’s not a good omen for us, and what do you expect?

“There are no regular competitions, and I am aware that there are still one or two other qualification competitions.

“But I expected that after they performed well during the All African Games, they should have intensified efforts in having more competitions that time, so that they can perform well you know during the immediate past competition.

“Now that there is (are) still one or two competitions ahead, I expect that they should take our boxers outside to go and prepare for the competition; you don’t expect to qualify if you are competing among yourselves.’