Nigeria’s D’Tigers star, Chimezie Metu, has revealed the reason Team Nigeria failed to live up to expectations in Tokyo.
Both D’Tigers and D’Tigress raised the hope of millions of Nigerians ahead of 2020 Games by winning their preparatory games convincingly only to get to Japan and lost all their group games.
While speaking to ESPN, Metu placed the blame at the door step of the Nigeria Olympic Committe (NOC) and further explained that they were all committed to representing the country.
“It is extremely difficult to go out there and try to focus on a basketball game when you are dealing with so much stuff off the court.
“For a lot of athletes here representing Nigeria, we love our country and we are ready to risk it all and put it on the line, but our government and the Nigeria Olympic Committee make it extremely difficult for us to go out there and focus on just performing our sport,” said Metu.
“And I am not just talking about basketball. I am talking about the track athletes, and I am pretty sure everyone knows about the 10 track athletes that were disqualified.
“It had nothing to do with what they did, but it was a lack of attention to detail, and a lack of empathy that has been put in by the staff of the Nigerian Olympic Committee and the Nigerian government.
“The game is what it is, but for 60-some athletes to come out here and fly halfway across the world to be shown a lack of respect and humiliated by our country, I am sure that is something none of us can stand for,” he told ESPN.
Source: ESPN