By Ben Ogbemudia, Abuja
A board member of the Karate Federation Nigeria (KFN), Professor Okey Ikechukwu has appealed to the Ministry of sports and Youth development to always encourage individual sports rather than football.

The professor of Strategic Management and Human Capital Development, who spoke at the weekend, said there are individual events that are important and even cost less than football and will still get a medal.

“ In cases of an individual event, it becomes easy because we pay for one ticket but for a team, you pay more money for just one event. They should encourage all and not downplay us.”

Also, the FCT Karate Association tasked young karatekas to build their careers on resilience and hard work.

The matron of the association and black belt holder, Hajiya Maryam Tahar during a literary programme in conjunction with Read and Reap, held to honour a patron of the association, Professor Okey Ikechukwu expressed her delight with the growth of the association while urging karatekas to aim for success.

“I’m happy to see that there are four generations of Karatekas present here. All the young ones should take Karate as an important part of their lives. The sky is your limit and I hope to see many of you as National and International champions,” she said.

A member of the association, Sensei Essien Allen appreciated the efforts of the celebrant in developing the game in FCT.

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“You are a leader to us, we are grateful for your contributions to FCT Karate Association and the Karate Community,” he said.

Ikechukwu thanked and admonished all present for honouring him saying “I thank the leaders of Karate in Abuja and everyone present. In this Art, whatever belt you wear is a sign of resilience. This hierarchy is not based on favour. There is no shortcut in life; you should all continue to work hard for any level you attain.

He also expressed his disappointment with the poor treatment of Nigerian Students just as the event ended on a solemn note as a minute of silence was held in honour of two fallen heroes of the Association, Sensei Iruobe Godwin and Sensei Akpovruvie Aaron.

“This event means alot, it is a mentoring platform, it is an opportunity to encourage people, and those coaching them not to relent despite the pressures in the environment. Today young people have very few mentors and so for me it is a platform for youth development and that is why I felt that those that are doing well, if they are encouraged, if they see the society interact with them it will spore some nerves not to give up.

“It is not only me, I work with others but we are committed so you can say yes the leadership of FCT Karatakets is partly responsible because it involves a team, all the team and alot of people and that is why we keep coming back.

It is not encouraged, this is an individual sport, people will focus more on football and all the others but one athlete can get you a gold medal it will also cost you less to take him to the Olympics and so individual sports particularly Karate that incorporates a bit of character development, personal discipline has been of interest to me for a long time now.