The President of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, Saidu Abubakar has advised states poaching athletes for the purpose of National Sports Festival (NSF) to stop, saying it does not help sports development in the country, TheNewsguru.com can authoritatively report.
Abubakar mentioned this while speaking to our correspondent at the ongoing National Sports Festival holding in Asaba the Delta state capital.
According to him, many states who came with younger athletes and unknown faces are doing exceedingly well in the competition.
He added that one of the ideas of setting up the National Sports Festival years ago was to discover and nurture talents in the country and that has been achieved to a certain level.
Abubakar also noted that athletes that will represent the country at the Olympics and All Africa Games have been spotted, noting that they will be nurtured in order to excel at the competition.
He said after the NSF many of them will not be allowed to go as another camp will be opened soon to keep them together.
On the number of talents, so far discovered at he tournaments, he said many have been spotted while some are still being discovered.
The Taekwondo president said that the athletes already have what it takes to compete favourably with their counterparts anywhere in the world.
He said that a national camp will be set up at the end of January in Kebbi state.