...Backs Obikwelu's Portugal Quest

While many Nigerian track and field faithfulls are yet to recover from the shock of seeing speed star, Francis Obikwelu, win a silver medal for his adopted country, Portugal last Sunday in the 100 meters men's final, Basketball star, Olumide Oyedeji, has thrown his weight behind the athlete .

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The basketball star opined that Obikwelu and other athletes competing for other nations is an eye opener of more to come unless urgent steps are taking that will ensure that welfare of athletes is given high priority by the administrators.

Obikwelu's feat of 9.86 secs is the best in Portugal's sprint history and crowned last Sunday with a blistering performance that put him behind America's Justin Gatlin in the final of the 100 meters and this is against the back drop of the fact that Team Nigeria is yet to record any medal at the ongoing Athens Olympic Games.

Oyedeji believes that it will amount to committing a gamblers fallacy to think that the athlete would have won the medal for Nigeria if he had competed in the Green white Green colours of the country.

"It is absolutely not through because if he had remained under the banner of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), he may not have been able to achieve such feat because of unnecessary distractions like unpaid bonuses and other stuff that are always attached to the country's preparations for big events . "More so the continuousness of looking at the players' welfare is not in our character hence the need for athletes to concentrate on their sports is limited and even when you want to fight for your right is seen as being rebellious is most unfortunate.

"Most other basketball stars outside the shore of the country are begin to have there reservation on whether it really worth playing for the nation today," he pointed out.