*coach upbeat on her talent
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
A new young leading talent in gymnastics, 11-year old Munyal Kwairanga has said that it has always been her dream to be an Olympian and she is at her maiden National Sports Festival (NSF) to prove a point.
The Gombe State-born gymnast disclosed this at the Gymnasium Hall of the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba at the ongoing 21st edition of the National Sports Festival in Delta State.
“You see I could reach this far because of the support from my parents, you can see my mother is here with me to further give continuous moral support for me to be successful in gymnastics, and I am grateful to all of them, including my coach”.
The young gymnast advised her peers and other young children to believe in themselves and strive to realize their dreams.
“Well, my advice to young children is to always believe in their ability, and practice hard, you see nowadays passion is everything”.
The 11-year-old, Munyal also expressed delight in her overall performance at the festival.
On her part, Munyal’s mother, Mrs. Sinda Kwairanga said her daughter has been a passionate gymnast since when she was very young.
“Since her young age, Munyal does some small acrobatics and had been climbing tables and chairs around the house and sometimes I was scared for her not to get injured and that’s how she started.
“Insha Allahu, she would do better, I am seeing Munyal going places and am not seeing Munyal gymnastics ending here, she would carry it further, I remember what she told me, ‘Mama let’s strike a deal, I will give you academics and you give me gymnastics, I promise to do well in school and you should also promise to give what I want for my passion, which is gymnastics.’
“So, I am seeing Munyal in the next five to six years at another level, thanks to TIG for training her well, so Insh Allah, Munyal would go places,” she declared.
Mrs. Kwairanga said that there wouldn’t be a hard feeling whether Munyal wins medals or not.
Also, speaking on the sidelines of the gymnastics event, Coach Anthony Asuquo described the 11-year-old Munyal as a talent.
“We only trained Munyal for four months, but look at how she is doing wonderfully well at the National Sports Festival, imagine if she is going to train for one year, she will be representing Nigeria,” he said.
He added that the future of young Munyal is very bright and in a few years, she will make the country proud.
