Former Liberian Taekwondo athlete, Master Junior Pewee, alias Russian, sees national government as the most responsible factor for the many challenges facing sports in the country.
The president of the Liberia Taekwondo Federation said the government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports has failed to support sporting federations which have caused the sporting bodies to strive in the absence of finance.
Speaking recently in Monrovia at one of the activities marking the Sports Writers Association of Liberia’s 38th anniversary celebration, the Liberian ex- martial artist blasted government for paying little attention to more than 30 sporting federations recognized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and giving all the credence to football.
According to Master Russian, in order to support the growth of sports as an attractive sector in the country, government needs to create opportunities and give many Liberians the assistance to make live for themselves.
He called on the government to take responsibility of all the federations and give them the needed financial support to compete across the region and the globe at large.
He expressed disappointment in the sport administrative arm of the Liberian Government for reportedly not making timely budgetary allocations to athletes and their coaches when they are called to make representation at international events.
He disclosed that in many cases, the funding requested by the respective sporting bodies are not made available at all which makes it impossible to have Liberian teams and athletes achieving greater feats than now.
The Liberian Taekwondo Federation seems to be one of the most financially challenged sporting entities in the country from the way its president recounted their last engagements with government in getting funding but could not be achieved.
Addressing sports writers and stakeholders during the event, Master Russian intimated that there will be no achievement in the Liberian sporting community until the government that is responsible for the huge failure takes ownership of working and sponsoring sporting programs the best way.
In response to the assertions made by the veteran martial artist, Deputy Sports Minster Andy Quamie refuted the claims made against the Ministry of Youth and Sport.
He said that the Ministry is only steering the sporting affairs of government and it is not responsible for funds disbursement as perceived by heads of federations.
The statement made by the deputy minster suggests that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning should be held responsible for the many cries made by Liberian sporting federations from time immemorial.
It can be recalled that the Liberian national football team which is believed to be the most supported sporting group all lingers in debt to airlines for several trips made during qualifiers of both the World Cup and African Cup of Nations.
In a related development, it is reported that lack of finance at federations has introduced a culture of indebtedness that is now used to facilitate the travels of athletes or players in order to have them forming part of the comity of nations of the sporting world.
