Nigeria’s Samuel Jackson has been appointed Global Vice President of World Arm-Wrestling Federation.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Jackson is the president of both Nigeria Arm-Wrestling Federation, NAWF, and Arm-Wrestling Federation of Africa, AFA.
He told NAN on the telephone in Ibadan on Friday that he was proud to be the first Nigerian to be elected into the position.
“I’m just a little boy from CMS Grammar School, Lagos who believes that dreams do come true, with hard work and persistence. This is a call to work harder to further reposition arm-wrestling.
“The repositioning will cut across all levels and not just the African continent. We need to keep coming up with innovations to take arm-wrestling higher,” he said.
Jackson added that he was geared towards propagating and spreading the gospel of arm-wrestling in Nigeria and across Africa.
“Topmost on to-be-achieved list is ensuring that arm-wrestling starts to feature in All Africa Games, starting from Ghana 2023.
“Like our elders do say, do not forget your humble beginning. We need to make arm-wrestling a sport in schools across Nigeria, even in our higher institutions and get it included in the National Sports Festival, scheduled for Delta next year,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria is to host the World Championships in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.
“All hands are already on deck to ensure that we come up with a time table to have a successful championship, come 2025.
“I am happy to say that NAWF is moving from the projections we had set 10 years ago when it was formed. Though COVID-19 affected most of the programmes, we were still able to hold the National Open Championship this year.
“Nigeria will be hosting Africa Championships July 2022 in Lagos and also, we will be celebrating 10 years of arm-wrestling in Nigeria that same year,” he said.
NAN
