The Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko, has dismissed claims that Nigerian athletes participating at the World Championship in Tokyo are poorly kitted.
Dikko said that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) should be commended for providing Nigerian athletes with kits for the international event.
While stating that the kits were not inferior, he also dismissed the notion that the NSC was responsible for kitting athletes.
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“Those kits were not inferior as people were trying to say, because other countries are using similar kits from Hiracer. It is just probably about the packing because it was not put in a box, like other countries are doing, and it was not bought in bulk.
“Tobi is our star athlete, and we respect her a lot. So, she did the video; it is what it is, but it is not the case, Dikko said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday.
“That was why we kept quiet for the past two days, because now, you have seen that all the athletes have been using the same kit. Probably, she had an issue with the packaging, [or] she had an issue with the quantity at that particular time.
“I thought the AFN should have been praised for going quickly to get the transaction with Hiracer, which includes a lot of bonuses and motivation for the athletes if they win,” he added.
World record holder, Tobi Amusan, had in a video post criticised the AFN for allegedly handing over poor-quality kits to Nigerian athletes for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
But the AFN refuted the claim.
Amusan claimed silver in the 100 metres hurdles at the World Championship in Tokyo on Monday.
In May, she won the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco.
Source: Channels TV
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