Stella Ebikefe, Chairperson of Nigeria Police Taekwondo Association (NIPOTA), says 250 athletes will feature in the forthcoming 9th Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Cup Tournament which holds from Wednesday to Friday.
Ebikefe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the competition which would hold at the Police College in Lagos would feature the poomsae, (demonstration) and Kyorugi (fight) events.
According to her, the two-day championships for Cadet, Junior and Senior categories would have manual and electric devices as officiating formula to be supervised by knowledgeable referees.
” So far, we can confirm registration of 250 athletes from states, clubs and individuals for the championships, while registration is still in progress, I believe we will have more before the competition begins.
” The officiating for the Cadet and Junior, who are majorly children, will be done manually by the referees, while that of the senior category will purely use the Electronic Scoring System.
She noted that in addition to competition benefits, the focus was to improve martial arts, particularly taekwondo, in the country and to also create an enabling environment for categories of athletes to know their current form.
” This IGP Championships has helped most of the athletes to go to the National camp and represent the country as well as travel to many other countries to compete too. It has also created awareness in the public about Taekwondo sport ” Ebikefe added.
The NIPOTA Chairperson stated that the annual IGP Cup Tournament did not hold in 2020, due to the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government. (NAN)
