Senator Abdul Ningi has blasted sports ministry over refusal to sponsor Nigeria hockey team to Olympic qualifiers in South Africa after describing hockey as ‘a non-performing sport’.

Speaking to brila.net, Ningi expressed his discontent of the federation inability to secure the required funding from the sports ministry.

“We received a letter from the sports ministry indicating that there are no funds to sponsor the Hockey federation to the Olympic qualifier, this is painful and tragic,” he said.

“We have been in camp for the last three weeks both the male and female teams, the federation has fed them and also paid their camp allowances, only for the ministry to said that the government have not allocated money for them”

“It is unfortunate that we are this condition when the federation goes out, they are not carrying our names but Nigeria, we should appreciate their sacrifice, how can we perform if we don’t go for international competitions if don’t get the required exposure,” he added.

According to him “We have gone out of our way to start the visa process with our personal funds, so when the funds are released we can go and compete.”