Weightlifting: Coaches drum support for Iquaibom

By George Aluo

Nigerian weightlifting coaches have vowed to ensure that a technocrat who understands the game is elected the next president of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF).

To actualize this dream, the coaches said they would throw their weight behind Lawrence Iquaibom, the incumbent Akwa Ibom state director of Sports, who in his heyday as an athlete competed for the country at several international meets including the Olympics and Commonwealth games.

The coaches who spoke through their chairman, Emeka Ajei during the just concluded Edo 2020 National Sports Festival said they would ensure that the era when persons who know next to nothing about the game led the weightlifting federation comes to an end.

“We want a president that understands the game and Lawrence Iquaibom fits into that bill. He was one of the nation’s best lifters in his days, winning medals for the country at the Commonwealth games. He is educated and he has the contacts both at home and overseas to make weightlifting tick. This is why we have resolved to back him. We want to see him become the next president of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF),” Ajei said.

He noted that weightlifting needs a president who would ensure there are regular competitions where new talents can be discovered, unlike the present situation where the nation’s weightlifters are idle year round.