Sports
Eagles’ First Choice Hotel Not Good Enough – Lulu 2010 W/Cup
Nigeria’s first choice hotel as team base in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup was not up to standard, Sani Lulu, the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) President admitted in Lagos early in the week.
Lulu made the admission at a seminar for the World Cup-bound Nigerian journalists held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The first choice hotel of the Eagles, Hampshire Hotel, was dumped late last week after it failed to meet the April 28 deadline for completion of all specified requirements.
A high-powered Nigerian delegation led by sports minister, Ibrahim Bio, went to South Africa for a final inspection and dropped the Hampshire Hotel in Balito, opting for the Protea Waterfront Hotel in Richards Bay.
Lulu, who expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for coming to the aid of the federation in changing the hotel, said the government felt the country needed the best.
He said the government’s endorsement of the new hotel showed that it was prepared to provide added comfort and extra security for the Nigerian team while in South Africa.
“The government wanted better option than Hampshire Hotel. We insisted on better environment,’’ he added.
He said the choice of team hotels was usually the prerogative of team coaches, adding that Hampshire Hotel was chosen after Nigeria’s qualification for 2010 on Novermber 14 2009 and the draws for the championship that followed in Decemebr.
He said erstwhile coach of the Eagles, Shaibu Amodu and South Africa-based former Nigerian goalkeeper, Peterside Idah, chose the Hampshire Hotel.
Amodu’s successor, Lars Lagerback was not satisfied with the hotel’s standard during an inspection in March.
He explained that the federation’s problems with accommodation followed FIFA’s decision to provide money to national federations in lieu of hotels as was
practised in the past.
He said the NFF had complained that the 400 dollars daily for each official delegation member provided by the world football body was not enough.
Nigeria will pay a fine of 125,000 dollars for the accommodation
cancellation, a decision the sports minister said was a compromise for the 250,000 dollars, which Hampshire had insisted.
Bio had said the Hampshire owners failed to carry out their side of the deal as they failed to complete the work on schedule.
Media reports in February that the Hampshire Hotel was substandard, led to the series of inspections and last week’s cancellation by sports minister Bio.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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