Tony Asuquo, the founder of the Tony International Gymnastics (TIG), said 36 gymnasts would feature in the Professional Gymnastics League billed for Nov.20 to Nov.31, in Napoli, Italy.
Asuquo told Journalists on Thursday, in Abuja, that Nigeria is the first African country to have its club represent the continent in the league.
He said the Gymnasts usually go on a training tour in South Africa whenever they wanted to participate in any international competition, but “we cannot go to South Africa this time around because of the coronavirus pandemic, we are going to Lagos instead”.
“We will be going to Lagos to do body language gymnastics at Ilupeju, we will visit the orbits center so that we can use there equipment to train too. We want to make our Gymnasts well prepared so that they don’t go out there and mess up in Napoli,” he added.
He said a total of 36 gymnasts aged between six and 16 years have registered for the event
“We have already booked our tickets, we have gotten our kits that we are going to use and all these are courtesy of the parents that supported us.
“The criteria to qualify for the international Championship trip is to meet up with the required international code of points on what you are doing.
“We sent them a video of what we are doing and they were satisfied, they granted us access to come and compete.
“We are leaving for Lagos on Friday and the flight is by 6 pm. We are going to spend five days, as our journey to Napoli is next month.,” he said.
He urged Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), the private sector and philanthropists to support their activities, since they had been unable to receive any support from the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development.