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By Joe Apu
In the light of Nigeria’s poor outing at the recently concluded Paris 2024 Olympics, board member of the Nigeria Squash Federation, Uchenna Uba has called for the right funding to help the federation make it to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The sport which is making its debut in the history of the Olympics is among five new sports that will feature in Los Angeles.
According to Uba, only a deliberate plan of action backed by adequate financing will guarantee Nigeria a place at the games noting that the country is already blessed with talented players that are ready to give their best at all times.
“We will most definitely qualify from African region and with hard work and lucky draw, we will do well at the Olympics in 2028. I will be dishonest if I tell you that we will get a medals at the LA Olympics. That will be wishful thinking. But like I said, with hard work and a good draw, we will definitely do well.
“We need our young players to start now to play in tournaments across the world to gain experience and develop their game and If we can secure the right funding and training for these players to consistently play in tournaments abroad, then I can tell you that we can get a medal in the 2032 Olympics but certainly not in 2028.”
While admitting the dominance of Egypt in the sport, Uba says Nigeria is not far behind and can compete effectively with the rest of the world.
“Well, Egypt is not an African powerhouse in squash, but a world powerhouse in the sport. That is not to say that Nigeria is not capable of competing. Nigeria has been very down internationally in squash until Mr Boye Oyerinde became president of Nigeria Squash Federation about 7 years ago and immediately introduced policies that changed the narrative.
“Today, we can boast of being the African number 2 powerhouse in squash.
In the not too recent past years, we were behind South Africa in Africa but with our recent successes in tournaments in Africa and in world squash team championships, we have gone ahead of them. We have a lot of good junior players who are incredibly very good and with the right guidance and sponsorship, we most probably be the best players we have ever produced.”
Uba observed that Nigeria should have grown much higher in squash but for poor funding. “We should have improved much better than we have now but for funding issues which anyway is a general problem of all sports in Nigeria,” he concluded.
