Coach Enefiok Bassey has called for more competitions for Lagos State young Weight Lifters as Lagos returned no medal in the event, Sports247 reports.
In an exclusive chat with our correspondent at the ongoing National Youth Games in Asaba coach said it’s time for the state government to prioritise young athletes’development by engaging them in a competition in between every youth game which comes up only once in a year.
He made this assertion as his boys struggled in the Weightlifting event on Friday in Asaba at the Stephen Keshi Stadium.
” Let’s encourage these children , let the government put emphasis on the youth”, begins coach Enefiok Bassey who has spent more than 10 years as a Weight Lifting coach in Lagos State.
Coach Speaks further : ” “After this year’s games , it’s next year for the boys , no competition in between. There is supposed to be a championship in between every youth game” said coach Enefiok Bassey .
The highly experienced Weight lifting coach who has spent over twenty years in the game believed adequate preparation also means spending time to train the athletes and also keep them fresh and competitive with competitions before the next National Youth Game.
Meanwhile, after the day’s activities in the event, Lagos States who won five gold medals in the event at 2023 edition failed to replicate such a medal filled in this year’s edition which the coach rightly posited on the inactivity of the weight lifters from Lagos who moves straight from the long vacation to the games with just three days of preparation before the event.
The youth games is a showcase of Nigeria’s next generation of sports talents who are under the age of 15 years and it continues in Asaba till Thursday September 19, 2025
