Birmingham 2022: Iquaibom thumbs up Nigerian lifters
Photo: Lawrence Iquaibom (middle) with other technical officials at a recent IWF championship
From George Aluo, Birmingham
Nigeria’s weightlifting legend, Lawrence Iquaibom has given a pat on the back to Nigerian weightlifters here in Birmingham.
Iquaibom who in his heyday won medals for Nigeria at the All African Games as well as the Commonwealth Games told Newstap that the Nigerian lifters have done well given the level of neglect the sports faces back home.
The former Akwa Ibom state director of Sports who is here as one of the IWF technical officials said Nigeria can rule weightlifting both at the All African Games and Commonwealth levels if the sport is given the needed support both from government and corporate bodies.
“I am happy with what our lifters are doing here despite not having the right exposure and support. Nigeria is blessed with good lifters but nobody is supporting them. This is quite unfortunate. We can’t keep talking football, football and football alone when other sports can do the country proud,” Iquaibom said.
He urged the sports minister Sunday Dare to pay more attention to the so called lesser sports ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics if Nigeria must do well at the world biggest sports fiesta.
