Steve Olarinoye, secretary of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), is confident that the country's weightlifters will be at the Beijing Olympics in August.

Olarinoye said on Wednesday that the morale of the lifters in the Abuja camp was high following the approval of the increase in their allowance by the National Sports Commission (NSC).

Nigeria will take part in the African Weightlifting Championships, which would also serve as the Olympic qualifiers scheduled to hold in South Africa in May, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.

"The athletes are in high spirits in camp here in Abuja. They are training very hard and are quite happy over the increase in their camping allowance by the NSC," Olarinoye said.

"The athletes are doing fine in camp in terms of accommodation, feeding, and transportation. They are well motivated," he added.

NWF invited 10 men and 10 women lifters to camp in Abuja immediately after the two-day national open trials for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers in January in Lagos.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2008)