National Secretary General, Nigerian Rope Skipping Federation, Olusesan Olukoya
Plans have been concluded by the Nigerian Rope Skipping Federation to host the 2020 Rope Skipping Championship at the Indoor Sports Hall, Akure, Ondo State from 17th to 19th January, 2020.
According to a statement by the federation signed by its National Secretary General, Olusesan Olukoya, the championship tagged ” Dawn of Jump Rope in Nigeria”, is aimed at popularising the game in the country even as he explained that ahead of the competition, some officials and athletes of the federation selected from two pilot states of the sports; Delta and Lagos were camped at the Osubi Airport Playground, Warri, Delta State from 5th – 10th December 2019 where they were exposed to the new technicalities of the sport.
“As part of our efforts towards ensuring a good tournament, some officials and athletes drawn from Delta and Lagos States were camped in Warri, Delta State early December 2019 where they were exposed to new technicalities in officiating the game in line with the world body’s rules and regulations. Athletes from these two states were chosen because they are the pilot states of the sport and have long been engaged in rope skipping,” Olukoya said.
He added that the game is now set to be part of the upcoming National Sports Festival in Benin, Edo state and at the Tokyo Olympics this year.
Olukoya, who witnessed some of the training sessions by kids in Ondo state trained by Coach Chibusi Ukandu expressed delight with the turn out of the children towards the game and commended the state government for its developmental programmes.
He listed some of the states expected to participate in the national championship to include Lagos, Delta, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Edo, Osun, Rivers, Plateau, Bayelsa and Imo States. The federation’s scribe noted that athletes and officials are expected to arrive Akure on Friday 17th January 2020,while the event proper will hold on Saturday 18th January which will be followed by the AGM that same evening while departure of the teams will be on Sunday 19th January 2020.