John Obi Mikel named as Team Nigeria captain for Rio Olympics, says he's proud to lead
Chelsea
and Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel has been named as the
captain of Nigeria's Olympic team that will compete at the upcoming Olympic
tournament in Rio.
Mikel Obi, one of the
three over-aged players invited to the national U-23 football team for the games,
is making his first appearance at an Olympic Games.
Table tennis star Funke Oshonaike will be the assistant team
captain. This will be Oshonaike’s sixth appearance at the Olympics after she
debuted at Atlanta ’96.
“Mikel is a young,
patriotic footballer of international status and we believe he will be a role
model to the upcoming athletes while Funke Oshonaike is experienced and is one
of the oldest athletes in the team.
“We believe that their
combined efforts will bring goodwill to TEAM NIGERIA and project the country’s
image positively to the world,” a statement from the Sports Minister’s Special
Adviser on Media, Nneka Ikem -Anibeze, stated.
Speaking on his
appointment, Mikel described it as ‘overwhelming’.
"First and
foremost, I will say I am overwhelmed with this opportunity to be the captain
of Team Nigeria to the Rio Olympics,” Mikel told the official website of the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
“This is the highest
accolade you can ever have as a sportsman and it's one I am really looking
forward to.
"It's massive, it's big, it's not just the football
team. I am the captain of the Super Eagles. Sometimes you look at it and you
think that's a big burden, but this is even much bigger, it's one that I am
looking forward to,”
No comments:
Post a Comment