Ahead of elections into the sporting federations, Weightlifting coaches in the country have vowed to support the candidature of Lawrence Iquaibom to become the next president of the federation.

Iquaibom, the former technical director of the federation and the incumbent Akwa-Ibom director of sports received the thumbs up in Benin during the just concluded National Sports Festival where the coaches met and endorsed his candidature.

Iquaibom, in his heyday as an athlete competed for the country at several international meets including the Olympics and Commonwealth games and won several medals for the country.

The coaches who spoke through their chairman, Emeka Ajei during the just concluded Edo 2020 National Sports Festival said they would ensure that the era when persons who know next to nothing about the game led the weightlifting federation comes to an end.

“We want a president that understands the game and Lawrence Iquaibom fits into that bill. He was one of the nation’s best lifters in his days, winning medals for the country at the Commonwealth games. He is educated and he has the contacts both at home and overseas to make weightlifting tick. This is why we have resolved to back him. We want to see him become the next president of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF),” Ajei said.

He noted that weightlifting needs a president who would ensure there are regular competitions where new talents can be discovered, unlike the present situation where the nation’s weightlifters are idle year round.

The last elections into Federation were held in 2017 in Abuja with another one coming up after the Tokyo Olympics