Nigeria will miss the first opportunity of having boxers qualify for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo as lack of funds ruled the team out of the 2019 AIBA Men’s World Championships in Ekaterinburg, Russia from September 7 to 21.

The female team will also miss out on their qualifying series, also to be hosted in Russia, from September 30 to October 14 in Ulan Ude.

The boxing team was poorly represented at the 2016 edition of the Olympics in Brazil with only Efe Ajagba competing after qualifying from the sole African qualifying series in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Ajagba went on to reach the quarter-final of the Games before being defeated by Kazakhstani Ivan Dychko.

Team Nigeria had a poor outing at the last African Games in Morocco, winning one gold, one silver and five bronze medals.

The Nigeria Boxing Federation has failed to attend major international events in recent years which have further reduced Nigeria’s ranking in the Games.