Etim who also doubles as the local government chairman of Oron made the advocacy while interacting with the state exercutive members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) led by Comrade Emmanuel Akpan, in Uyo.
Pastor Etim who is a former, footballer, Javelin thrower and a weightlifter explained that the advent of the Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival brought about the discovery of young talents like Edidiong in weightlifting, Imaobong in track, Idara in Boxing amongst others who could have been found wanting in the streets without knowing the potentials in them.
He appreciated Governor Udom Emmanuel for according sports and youth development a priority in his administration and extolled the governor for affording him and other members of the association the opportunity to serve on board and contribute to the development of sports in the state.
While hinting that the State Weightlifting Association is determined to make the state proud in the sports at all levels, he said so far, the state lifters have won 49 gold, 20 silver and 29 bronze medals in the National Sports Festivals, while in the National Youth Sports Festival, Akwa Ibom did not take the rare as it clinched 12 gold 11 silver and 12 bronze medals as well.
The chairman mentioned some of the weightlifters which helped the state to scoop the laurels at competitions to include: Edidiong Umofia, Uwana Peter,Namsifon Ekanem, Theresa Okon amongst others, whom he believed will go ahead to represent Nigeria in Olympic having excelled in Africa and International championships.
He hinted that soon after the association was inaugurated a meeting of the board was convenned followed with a visit to the Uyo Township Stadium to assess facilities for training of weightlifters, adding that for positive results in the game it was pertinent to have a standard training facility which he provided one of the best weightlifting platforms for the athletes training.
The chairman listed other attainments of the association to include: organizing a reception for weightlifters who participated at the Jigawa State Weightlifting Competition and preparation of weightlifters for the postponed Edo National Sports Festival.
He also said that arrangement was made to stage Oro Nation Youth Weightlifting Tournament but was postponed due to the emergence of Coronavirus Disease , which according to him will still hold after the pandemic.
According to him, the Association of Local Government of Nigeria ( ALGON) was desirous to present youths from the 31 local government areas for weightlifting competition so as to harness talents in the sport.
Etim, expressed readiness of the association to partner SWAN towards the development of Weightlifting in the state.
It would be recalled that the Akwa Ibom state youth sports festival held only twice with the third edition failing to hold in 2019, no thanks to political activities of 2019 in the state.
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