I want to produce medallists for Nigeria at Tokyo Olympics —Toni Urhobo

FORMER chief coach of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Toni Urhobo believes his pet project, ASC NETWORK is capable of producing medallists for Nigeria at Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“Adopt A SOAR Champ Support Network” is a programme through which we hope to produce sportsmen and women from various events who will make Nigeria proud at 2020 Tokyo Olympics by God grace.

“This programme is a product of many years of our experience put together by my wife and I to assist the youth of our great country to actualise their potentialities in sports performance with the assistance of philanthropists, stakeholders, entrepreneurs, sports enthusiasts, and patriotic Nigerians through well-organised elite training, and competitions with the best available professionals with the sound knowledge of modern scientific principles in human Anatomy and physiology, programming, and biomechanics,” Urhobo told Tribunesport.

The former national pole vault record holder stated that he has what it takes to make this dream a reality.

“What you put into an athlete is what you get. By the grace of God by 2020, our “ADOPT A SOAR CHAMP”, “SOAR ELITE BOOTCAMP” and “PODIUM 2020 PLAN” programmes should be able to produce podium athletes at the Olympics in Tokyo in some major events in track and field, tennis, and football if we receive the level of support required.

“With time we should be able to metamorphose into a more complex organisation similar to the IMG in New York that bought over the Bolattieri Tennis Academy. Already I have selected some athletes for the SOAR Elite Training who will run under 10 seconds before the 2020 Olympics.

“I have jumpers too, mostly unknown who will be trained to make Nigeria proud. These young athletes will be practically taken from “nothing” to world-class status by the grace of God in 2020. However, Nigerians should step up and support this trustworthy venture. Training Olympics champions is capital and time intensive. All must chip in a bit,” the former Benin Republic athletics coach said.

Urhobo lamented that Nigeria is blessed with abundance of talents that can make the country proud with proper motivation adding: “It was sad for me watching some of our best Nigerian athletes compete for other countries at major international events such as the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Obviously it was as a result of poor management and not the lack of funds.”