Lagos –  Alhassan Yakmut, the Director General, National Sports Commission (NSC), on Saturday said that the commission would continue to give priority to nation’s participation at international competitions.
Yakmut told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre in Yaba, Lagos, that international competitions have no contending programmes in the Commission’s s activities.
“We know the importance of the nation’s athletes to take part at international competitions. International events are known to be the highest ranking of tournaments.
“They are special events that would help in driving sports forward. They showcase the very best of players globally,’’ he said.
Yakmut commended the Lagos State Government for playing a major at the 2nd edition of the International Badminton Classics.
“It amazes me to see that the state government is the sponsor of this annual event.
“This should be the work of corporate organisations as a way of giving back to the society in the development of sports.
“Maybe we would have to come up with a seminar for corporate organisations to make them see reasons why to invest in sports.
“Honestly corporate organisations are losing by not investing in sports,” he said.
Yakmut described the organisation of the tournament as timely, stressing that it would help the Badminton Federation in its preparations for the forthcoming All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville.
“The federation has organised the competition at the right time. It is an evaluation for the country’s players and also would help to study the other countries, ”he said.
The DG said that the NSC was guided by a new policy that did not allow federations’ athletes undergo international training tours.
“The simple reason is because we are not sports tourist. What we need is international competitions that our athletes can participate in.
“Through that we can evaluate our strength and also identify our weaknesses that needed to be worked on,’’ he added.