Sports

Lagos Moves To Reclaim Top Spot At Sports Festival

Published

13 years ago

January 14, 2011

Lagos State sports administrators and athletes say they will use the 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt now postponed till June to reclaim their number one position at the national scene.

Basking in the euphoria of their successes at the zonal eliminations for the sports fiesta, they said that they were ready for the competition.

Although they have not moved into the final phase of camping, the officials and athletes training at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Yaba, said their 2010 performances was motivated by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

The Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Council, Agboola Dabiri, recalled that the state was pushed to the seventh positions in the 2006 and 2009 editions of the festival in Ogun and Kaduna states.

“This development has fired us up to initiate moves to come back to top other states.

“To achieve this, we started a number of grassroots talent hunt programmes and competitions to discover athletes for the state and ultimately for the nation.

“The government gave us its full backing financially and morally, while some individuals and NGOs joined the revival effort,” Agboola said.

Some of the activities sponsored by the government are the clinics for all the coaches in the different sports, the Sydney Asiodu Athletics Competition and the All Comers Athletics Meet.

Others are the Lagos Basketball Tournament for Secondary Schools, Karate Championships, the Lagos Speaker’s Cup Football Competition, The Governor’s Cup Football Competition and the State Sports Festival.

The rest are the Governors Cup International Squash Championships, the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show and the Inter-Local Government Councils Table tennis Championships.

In swimming, the Governors Special Adviser on Grassroots Sports Development, Wale Oladunjoye, sponsored the Lagos State Swimming Competition and the children of late Phil Ebosie sponsored the Phil Ebosie Memorial Swimming Competition.

The annual Asoju Oba Cup Table Tennis Championships sponsored by Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas and the Cowbell Para-soccer Competitions promoted by Promasidor Nigeria Ltd also held.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria also sponsored a basketball clinic with a promise that it would do the same for all the sports.

Agboola told newsmen that having undertaken these activities, the athletes were ready to improve on their zonal eliminations performances to win the festival.

“Gov. Babatunde Fashola is the brain behind the successes we achieved in 2010 and the only way we can reciprocate his gesture and efforts at sports development is by reclaiming the state’s lost glory.

“I urge the athletes to train well, be focused and ensure they win the sports fiesta,” he said.

In spite of these efforts, the swimming pool and the boxing gymnasium at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre still remain in deplorable state.

The contracts for their refurbishing were awarded but they have yet to be functional.

The sport’s authorities said that government would expedite action in reviving the facilities to ensure that the abundant talents in swimming and boxing would not defect to other states.

The council’s Head Coach, Kally Isaac-Dagogo also told newsmen that the technical department would ensure that athletes were given the best training for them to perform optimally.

Athletes who spoke with Tidesports were confident that the state would rule the sports festival because of their level of preparation and government’s welfare package.

Temitope Adesina, a basketball player said she was in good shape for the festival, adding that the basketball coach had engaged them in intensive training sessions.

“Although we are on course but the final phase of training for the festival should start in earnest,” she said.

Jide Omotayo, a table tennis player praised the government for its grassroots talent hunt programmes which, he said, had increased the state’s bank of athletes.

“I think Lagos has performed well in 2010. Our welfare remains top on their agenda and this will spur us into action,” Omotayo said.

Eniola Adejare, a swimmer scored the council’s performance low because the swimmers lacked competitions and the swimming pool in a deplorable state.

“We have lost our colleagues to other states because of the lack of competition and bad facilities.

“I think serious measures should be taken to arrest this defection of swimmers for us to have a successful outing at the National Sports Festival,” Adejare said.

Sports

Expert Wants Parents To Enroll Children In Vector Programme

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

In a bid to have more young talented Nigerians to play professional football abroad, Johnny Ogbah, a sports lawyer and football intermediary, has called on parents to enroll their children in Vector Programme.
He stated that the programme is in conjunction with Conventry Football Club in United Kingdom (UK), saying that the programme includes academics where a child can acquire a degree.
Ogbah, made the call while addressing sports journalists recently in Port Harcourt, as the programme will admit students into Brooke College between the age of 11 and 18 Football Academy.
The major objective of Vector Programme is to give the young ones a career through sports and good education. The programme does not train people on football only but also other things that is related to sporting environment, he said.
According to him, more than 20 Nigerians have benefited from the programme on scholarship and most of them are now playing football in top clubs in Europe.
“Vector programme was poised to create an avenue to give people to play football to the highest level.
Apart from football the child can also have quality education. It will interest you to know that those in Vector programme play friendly games that attracts scouts from different countries and football clubs.
The programme doesn’t train you on only football but also train people on everything that is associated to sports”, Ogbah said.
The former Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) player further disclosed Vector programme pathways provides the practice opportunities that players need if they are to successfully graduate as a professional player.

By: Tonye Orabere

Sports

NLO: Khana FC Coach Blames Players For Missing Chances

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

The Head Coach of Khana FC in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Sam Ledor, has blamed his players as they were unable to convert scoring chances.
According to him, if those chances created in their opening match against Jet Bomber FC at the ongoing Nation wide League One (NLO), in Omoku centre were converted, it would have given them victory.
Ledor, said this on Saturday in a chat with Tidesports shortly after they played goalless draw against Jet Bomber FC in their opening match in 2024 NLO Division in Omoku, Rivers State.
“ We created a lot of scoring chances but could not find the net”, he said.
He explained that playing goalless draw is not a bad result in football but in a competition like this, they need to score goals and win matches.
“ My brother, we missed a lot of scoring chances which is not good. I trainned my players on how to create chances and to convert them.
“ What is important in a competition is winning but as we did not lose the game, we will look forward for our next game.
“We will go back to the drawing board and correct the grey areas in our game and ensure we get better results in our next outing.
“Today’s game is gone, what we need to do is to make sure we win our next game,” he stated.
He pointed out that no game comes easy but the effort you put in will give good result. They tried their best today and the result was good for both teams but we need to win our next game.
“My opponents were also a good side; they tried all what they could but didn’t score also. It was a good game but my team needs to win games,” he added.

By: Kiadum Edookor

Sports

Wilkins Backs Rivers Hoopers To Spring Surprises At 2024 BAL

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

A French-American, John Walter Wilkins is confident Rivers Hoopers can make it to the playoff round of the 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Wilkins, who is the son of former NBA player Jeff Wilkins, linked up with his Hoopers teammates at the team’s training camp in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, ahead of the 2024 BAL Savannah Conference games, which tip off on Saturday, 4th May, 2024, in Dakar, Senegal.
Wilkins is no stranger to African basketball, having played for Moroccan sides AS Salé (2015-2016) and Ittihad Tanger (2017-2019), before leading Stade Malien to a third-place finish at BAL 2023.
Looking ahead to the 2024 BAL, Wilkins says the quality of basketball across Africa has improved, with the BAL requiring a high level of competitiveness, but backed Rivers Hoopers to spring a surprise at the tournament.
“It’s a really high level, a great competition; [it’s] one of the best I’ve played in since I’ve been in Africa. But we don’t need to be scared. We need to just attack the moment, be there, be present, and I think if we are confident in our abilities, we can surprise people,” he said.
Since its inaugural season in 2021, Nigerian teams have appeared twice at the BAL, with Rivers Hoopers playing in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2021 and Kwara Falcons featuring at BAL 2023.
Despite failing to reach the playoffs on both previous occasions, Wilkins is optimistic that with the quality of players in the Hoopers squad as well as the recruitment done ahead of the BAL, Rivers Hoopers will be more competitive in this season’s BAL.
“I’m really optimistic. I know that those past years the teams from Nigeria didn’t do well, but I think with me, Kelvin [Amayo], Will [Perry], and the other guys, I think we can show the way, have some wins, and be more competitive,” he stated.
The Nigerian Champions were drawn in the Savannah Conference alongside former BAL Champions US Monastir (Tunisia), last year’s runners-up AS Douanes (Senegal), and APR (Rwanda).