The weightlifting association yesterday said it needed support from the government.
They made this statement through the deputy minister of Education Youth and Sports Two, Lansana Nyallay, at his new office in Freetown.
The president of the association, Francis Dove Edwin who led the delegation, said the team of six weightlifters was supposed to take part in the Olympics qualification in South Africa slated for next month from the 10-16 that will qualify them for the Olympic Games in China in August this year. He mentioned that for the weightlifters to take part in the Olympic Games in China, they needed to go to South Africa at all cost to qualify and that if they failed to go to South Africa the training of the weightlifters would go in vain.
He appealed to the government to come on board to assist the weightlifters, adding that other disciplines were suffering because of football.
Francis Dove Edwin noted that the present renovation work at the National Stadium had cost government about Le160 million while other disciplines could not have one third of such an amount which, he described as unfair to them.
President Dove Edwin revealed that for the past years they had been organising competitions for which they had never received a cent from the past government as help.
He recalled that last year the association was able to organise a Zone Two weightlifting competition without any government support which did not go down well with the association.
The deputy minister Two in the ministry, Lansana Nyallay who deputized Dr Bah, said he was going to appeal to his boss to see how they could come on board to assist if there was any way possible.
The permanent secretary in the ministry said they had received several requests from other sporting disciplines appealing for help from the ministry.
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