By Emma Jemegah
The Permanent Secretary,Edo state Sports Commission Agharese Patricia Efe-Amenze, has raised concerns about the manner the officials of the Ogun Games’ Main Organising Committee( MOC) in charge of collation and recording of medals have been going about the exercise.
Mrs Efe-Amenze said she is worried about the slow pace and inconsistent manner medals won particularly the Gold medals won by Team Edo so far have not reflected in the daily official table being released.
According to her, Team Edo Officials have lodged a complaint, requesting that the actual medals Edo has won be posted daily. She said that when compared what Edo has achieved with what is being released daily and how other States’ are getting theirs updated correctly, it gives the officials of Edo reasons to be worried.
Mrs Efe-Amenze expressed the hope that the anomalies that have been observed at the ongoing National Sports Festival tagged Gateway Games 2024 are corrected soon.
She also complained about the issues in feeding of athletes and officiating, saying that the meal served athletes and the effects of such food on their performances is another issue.
The Edo PS was chatting with sports journalists at the Baptist Boys High School indoor Sports Hall where kickboxing and boxing games were scheduled when she raised the alarm.
On the discrepancies between the medals table being made public by the MOC and the reality of what is on the ground, Mrs Efe-Amenze said: “Though, we have our own records. Thank God we have veterans among us. We are very good at what we are doing. We keep records on a daily basis and when we compare with what we have from the MOC it is like the update is not done every day.”
We have gone there to complain and they gave us their words that they will definitely upgrade the medals table. So, we are waiting. One would have expected that with the modern technology they said they are using, collation, prompt and accurate recording of medals should not have been any issues,” she queried.
On the issues in feeding of Team Edo athletes at the Ogun Games fiesta, she disclosed that it is poor.
“I have noticed poor feeding. Some of our athletes have been stooling. The kind of food they have been serving them has not been too favourable. Iweobi Gift our beach Volleyball athletes is one of those that suffered. It was like a miracle for her to leave the medical facility she was rushed to and still managed to play on Friday afternoon,” she said.
Mrs Agharese Efe-Amenze also disclosed that officiating in some areas have been poor. “At a time in Kungfu, Edo State had to call for intervention from independent judges who prevailed on the officiating officials in an argument that lasted for about three hours before our lost points were restored.” .She said.
“In some areas we have not been very pleased with the way the referees and judges have been operating. It is my wish that the MOC (Main Organizing Committee) in future overhauled these areas.
“I am seeing a lot of politics in sports. But it will not help us. We just need to try to bring it down. We are talking about sports development So that our children’s dreams will not be killed. We wish that a better tomorrow will be there for all of us.”
Meanwhile, the team Edo senior official has expressed confidence in the ability of the heartbeat team to achieve podium finish at the Games, maintaining that Edo remains the team to beat.
Mrs Efe-Amenze is optimistic that there are still hopes of Team Edo coming out tops . “The game is still on so we are going to get more gold medals by His grace. We have hope in boxing, gymnastics, cricket, athletics and others.” She enthused.
Edo has continued to harvest medals on a daily basis as they have started harvesting Gold in athletics and gymnastics.
As at 11:30pm on Friday Team Edo were having 17 Gold, 47 Silver and, 40 Bronze totaling 104 medals.