Akide slams ministry over Athens
bonus
By Peter Edema
Snr.
Correspondent,
Lagos
Super Falcons
striker, Mercy Akide has lashed out at the sports ministry for not paying
members of the Falcons winning bonus in the football event of the Athens
Olympic Games.
In an interview
granted Silverbird Television at the weekend, she said, it was unheard off in
football that winning bonus were denied players after a victory.
“I’ve
never seen where match bonus is not given to players,” she said, adding
that winning bonus was a standard practice in football.
According to her,
the team should have been given
bonus for its 1-0 victory over Japan in the preliminary rounds, but said it was
not responsible for the team semi final ouster in the Games.
She attributed the
team’s good run in the
Athens Olympics to preparation and noted that an improvement was needed if the country hoped to do better
than what it did in the Athens Games.
She advocated for
early preparations inclusive of friendly games towards the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.
Her team mate Faith
Ikide wants the team kept intact
towards major championships.
Meanwhile, veteran
sports reporter, Fabio Lanipekun has called for the revival of the
country’s age grade football
competitions.
He said this has
become inevitable because the gap between Nigeria and other African nations at
the age group level was almost closed.
He made the call
against the backdrop of the failure of the country that won the football gold
in Atlanta Olympics in 1996 to qualify for the Athens Olympic Games football
event.
“We need to
revive our age group football. This is because the gap between Nigeria and
other African countries get closer by the day,” he said on
Silverbird’s road to glory programme at the weekend.
