Eight States Arrive Lagos Ahead Of BRF Judo Championship.

Eight states have arrived Lagos State for the Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola National Open Judo Championship billed to begin on Wednesday at the indoor sports hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba.

Secretary of the Lagos State Judo Association, Ijeoma Seribe, who confirmed this reports while speaking with  Sportsweight.blogspot.com, said Nasarrawa, Jigawa,Ogun, Oyo, Benue, Akwa Ibom and Imo States were among the participating states that are already in the state in readiness for the championship sponsored by the Lagos State government.

According to her, the competition which would begin on Tuesday  with a referee course is geared at keeping the referees abreast of latest technology in the sport and also to enable acquire useful skills that would put them in a vantage position in the forthcoming National Sports Festival taggaed EKO 2012 Games.


The tournament is part of the Association's efforts to showcase Lagos Judokas and also to create a cordial relationship among the athletes as well as the officials especially a time when the National Sports Festival is in November, stressing that it would also serve as an avenue to test run the facilities before the EKO 2012 begins in November.


The former Lagos State Handball player, who claimed that the tournament which was also geared at evaluating the performance of the state's judo athletes having been training rigorously ahead of the Games, said the participating teams had expressed happiness over the competition since the Nigeria Judo Federation,NJF, is yet to organise a tournament in 2012 as the BRF Judo Championship would be the first ever Judo tournament in the year prior to the EKO 2012.

The association Chairman, Mutiu Aare, said the competition would enable the participating states to perform better at the Eko 2012,adding that the state Judokas are in the right frame of mind to excel at the Games following their exposure to rigorous training programmes.

Aare, said the tournament was to create a platform to evaluate his athletes who would be in closed camping for the EKO 2012 where the association's technical crew would concentrate on the selected athletes in a bid to surpass their achievement at the last held Garden City Games in PortHarcourt.

According to him, the Lagos State Judo Association are not focusing on must- win event but to create an enabling environment to add value to the sport and also pave the way for the selection of Judokas who might represent Nigeria in international events.