Having bestrode the game of Taekwondo like a colossus in Nigeria, going ahead to win bronze at the Olympics, Chukwumerije is now sold on developing budding talents into world beaters in the sport through his Foundation. Beyond this, he is also passionate about seeing other so-called lesser sports develop into big-income earners for both country and countrymen.
Since winning an Olympic bronze medal in Taekwondo at the Beijing Games in China, Chika Chukwumerije had become a household name in the country, especially among sport lovers.
He had since taken his love for the sport beyond the quest for personal honours, focussing on the need to help develop it at the grassroots and nurture talents into world beaters. And to drive this initiative, he set up the Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation.
In October 2012, Nigeria hosted the first Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation international taekwondo championship to further the foundation’s mission of producing world-class practitioners from West Africa by combating “the lack of constant exposure to world class tournaments, training camps, equipment and training methodologies.”
He had since invested so much in the lives of young athletes, taking them out, on different occasions, to point-scoring tournaments across West Africa and beyond.
Recently, the Taekwondo team of Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation debuted and made good impact at the 8th Korea Ambassador’s Cup Championships in Accra, Ghana.
It was a new experience for the athletes who had never competed in a proper tournament. The athletes appreciated the gesture because it served as training and learning process for them.
“It is important to expose our young and up-coming athletes to foreign tournaments, whenever we can. It is impossible to know how they will respond to the pressures but I am confident that they have already learnt something from that experience. This is a goal and target I have given all of them. It is a tall order. They must make it in Taekwondo,” Chukwumerije said.
The three-time Olympian recalled that he was encouraged to gain more experience by competing in various international events when he was coming up as an athlete.
Chika first drew attention during the qualifiers for the 2003 All-Africa Games, where he eventually won a bronze medal in the Heavyweight Male category.
He qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but lost his first bout to Pascal Gentil, the eventual bronze medal winner. Nevertheless, after a period of intensive training that was funded by his late father, he became one of Nigeria’s best chances for a medal prospect at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
He had earlier won a gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games in the +80 kg class and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games soon after. In Beijing, he lost to eventual silver-medal winner Alexandros Nikolaidis in the semi-finals of the +80kg event. He was entered into the repechage round of the tournament. After defeating Akmal Irgashev of Uzbekistan, he claimed a bronze medal in the event, Nigeria’s third medal of the tournament. Four years later he competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but did not make it past his first bout.
Chukwumerije had competed in taekwondo at three University Games held by the Nigerian University Games Association, winning bronze in 2000 and gold in 2002 and 2004. He first became a national champion in 2002 and held the title through 2011, undefeated in nine years.
Speaking about his mission and aspirations for the game, he said he followed the laid down family tradition to stay glued to Taekwondo and discover more talent for Nigeria. Chukwumerije’s romance with Taekwondo began from the age of three when his Dad introduced the game to the entire family.
“With time, I have learnt a lot in life through the game. As a member of the board of Taekwondo, my desire is to serve in my area competence, which is to prepare a formidable and sound team for Nigeria in any international outing.
We have the potentials and we need to make the best of our athletes,” he said. Now a member of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, Chukwumerije opined that regular sponsorship of the country’s athletes is needed to prepare the athletes for future challenges This view was re-echoed by the NTF scribe, Taiwo Oriss, who said that regular sponsorship of athletes at local and international competitions could lead to the country becoming one of the top taekwondo nations in the world.
The country’s team failed to perform to expectations at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Morocco. As a result, a new competition was launched in a bid to find fresh talent. Oriss expressed the belief the standard of Nigerian taekwondo athletes would improve if they the athletes constantly compete in competitions. “Athletes get better by participating in competitions within and outside the country and the Federation alone cannot fund such; there is need for improved corporate and individual sponsorship,” Oriss stated.
He added, “Taekwondoists are not only prepared for competitions by the Federation, they also go for competitions on the bill of corporate or individual sponsors, and we hope to see more of that.
“Some sponsors also organise competitions, they work with the Federation for proper regulation and organisation of such events. All these help to develop the game.”
Baring his mind on how to develop other sports and turn them into big income earners, Chukwumerije, however, stressed the need to refocus and re-brand the face and management of the various sports to attract quality sponsorship.
We should stop this tag of lesser sports. All sports are the same. It is how we manage them that differ. Football recently got a private sponsor worth multi-million dollars to pay its technical crew for the next five years. They are not relying on the Federal Government
He advised managers of other sports that are derisively tagged ‘lesser sports’ to wake up and stop playing the second fiddle, saying that they had equal chances to get the same attention football enjoys across the globe.
Speaking on the way forward for Nigerian sports, Chukwumerije said Nigerian administrators required a new orientation to market the potentials of the sports they manage and make them more attractive to sponsors.
“We should stop this tag of lesser sports. All sports are the same. It is how we manage them that differ. Football recently got a private sponsor worth multi-million dollars to pay its technical crew for the next five years. They are not relying on the Federal Government. They packaged themselves and got something valuable. Other sports could do the same. They need to go all out to the schools and start aggressive marketing from the grassroots to keep people informed about the games and with time, the awareness will open doors for them. So people should stop the lesser sports tag on other sports,” he said.
The athlete, whose outstanding showing served as inspiration to the Team Nigeria camp at the 2008 Olympic Games, stressed that all Olympic sports athletes need enough resources to discover, nurture and develop athletes to become world champions.
Unlike in the past when Nigerian sports enjoyed maximum support from the government, sports like boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, Table tennis, Tennis, Judo, Karate, Volleyball, Basketball and Taekwondo, have been suffering from neglect and poor funding. But Chukwumerije blamed it on the administrators in charge of the sports. “People will value your products the way you advertise them. It is very important the way we run our sports both locally and internationally. We need to inject fresh ideas into the system to take our sports to the next level,” he said.
