National 200m men champion Emmanuel Arowolo says he expects little or no reward from the Ondo state government if he wins gold in the 100m at the ongoing 2018 National Sports Festival in Abuja.

Arowolo who represented Nigeria at the 2018 Commonwealth games where he was part of the silver medal -winning 4x100m relay team and is representing Ondo state in the 100m at the NSF believes athletes should always compete for themselves first and foremost.

“I’m used to the reality of when you compete there’s either no reward or little reward, so for now there’s no promise of reward [from the Ondo State government],” he told busybuddiesng.http://busybuddiesng.com

“But like I always say, you don’t know who is watching and you don’t know when that time come and you can get a contract from Nike or Adidas because of your achievements, so for me I’m always trying to perform at my best regardless of if I’m rewarded or not.”

The 21year old athlete won his heat to qualify for the semifinal of the 100m and although he is more of a 200m specialist, Arowolo says he has a shot at the gold medal but he aims to first “go through the rounds and be there for the final.”

This is Arowolo’s first ever appearance at a National Sports Festival and the athlete says even though “there are a lot of things to complain about” at the sports festival, he is “just going to put it at the back of my mind and focus on why I’m here”.