The Nigerian Taekwondo Federation (NTF) says its National Ranking System has impacted on performance tracking and development of elite and upcoming takweondo stars, especially at the just concluded National Sports Festival (NSF).
Chika Chukwumerije, the NSF Technical Director, disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
NAN reports that the national ranking, which is updated after every major event, shows that the top ten taekwondo stars in the country are unchanged, though some names changed below the top position.
NAN also reports that the NTF Ranking System, debuted in 2017.
“Nine out of the 16 ‘Kyeorugi’-gold medalists were top-seeded as 44 out of the 64 medalists were seeded players.
“It was only in one weight category (female—73kg) out of the 16 weight categories that a top seed did not make it to the medal stage,” the Olympic Games bronze medalist said.
He noted that only four athletes from the 2012 edition of the NSF defended their titles in the 2018 and they include: Chinazum Nwosu (female-53kg) Uzoamaka Otuadinma (female-73kg) among others.
“In the female category, there was a huge domination of junior players who were at the national camp in early 2018 and also represented Nigeria at the 2018 African Youth Games (AYG).
“The 2018 African junior bronze-medalist–Uzoamaka Chidiebere (14 years-old) who represented Abia, won a bronze in the female -49kg category.
“Bayelsa’s Happiness Adirimo (17) and Taraba’s Bukola Ogunnusi (17) who both represented the country at the 2018 AYG, won NSF silver and bronze respectively in the female-49kg and 62-kg categories.
“Lagos’s Oyebanji Adeteju (16) who represented Nigeria at the 2018 AYG, won a bronze at the female +73kg.
“Taraba’s Faith Osita (15) who won a bronze at the 2018 National Youth Games (NYG) followed up with a bronze in the 2018 NSF in the female-53kg class,” he said.
The African Games gold medalist noted that its top athletes also performed outstandingly during the NSF with Delta’s Ifeoluwa Ajayi (male-63kg) and Abuja’s Elizabeth Anyanacho (female-67kg) being the best pick.
“Established athletes such as Chinazum Nwosu-(female-53kg) Uzoamaka Otuadinma and Sunday Onofe (male-87kg) deserve special recognition for their longevity at the top and consistency across all tournaments for the past six years.
“They have demonstrated their class repeatedly and winning at previous NSF editions and defending their titles in 2018, is a testament of their class as best in their generation.
“Their feats become more outstanding because they defended the titles with a whole, different set of rules and systems,” he said. (NAN)
