EDO 2020: Imo Coaches Deserve Commendation, Says Chimezie

From EVEREST EZIHE, reporting from Benin

Overwhelmed by the exploits of Imo athletes so far in the on going National Sports Festival christened Edo 2020 leading to them harvesting laurels when compared with their previous outings, Mr. Joe Chimezie said Imo Coaches deserved commendation for making the state proud despite their challenges.

Chimezie who’s a Head Coach with Imo State Sports Commission said this at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Complex, Benin one of the venues of the sporting fiesta as the state has in her kit 9 Gold, 13 Silver and 17 Bronze medals as at the time of the interaction and filing of the report.

According to him” am highly impressed with our athletes as some of them have now qualified for the finals, some have won medals and some didn’t win. We started well at home but due to Covid-19, we stopped our camping and that is one of the problems we are experiencing here because the stoppage really effected some of the athletes. The results so far recorded, kudos should go to the Coaches. Most of these athletes were products of grassroots sporting discoveries by the coaches who out of every odds fine tuned them into finished products, most of them, the coaches used their money and made tremendous sacrifices in building them up and today they are given us laurels. Imo Coaches deserved commendations and incentives” he noted.

The Athletes icon and administrator appealed to Imo State government for an encouragement to the coaches so as to harness more hidden talents from the various autonomous communities and other states of the federation.

Chimezie further expressed gratitude to the State Commissioner of Youth and Sports, Hon. Dan Ogu for his dedication, commitments and patriotism in sports development and transformation as well as the State Director of Sports, Mrs. Chizotam Aretola for her motherly sacrifices and encouragement.

On the issue of replacing ageing athletes, Chimezie canvassed on the need for the state to organize sports festival involving all the 27 council areas, insisting that hidden talents will be discovered and groomed for the advantage of the state and the nation at large.


Mr. Joe Chimezie, Head Coach with Imo State Sports Commission. Pix by Everest Ezihe, Benin.