Sports
Stakeholders Task Flamingoes On U-17 World Cup Final
Some football stakeholders have urged the U-17 female team, the Flamingoes, to remain focused and ensure they get to the final of the U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup is scheduled to hold from September 22 to October 13 in Azerbaijan.
In separate interviews with newsmen yesterday, the stakeholders said that they have confidence in the ability of the team and urged the players not to let the country down at the championship.
Nnenna Etim, a former Super Falcons coach, urged the team not to underrate any country, saying getting to the final should be their target.
Etim advised the players not to allow sentiments to rule them, but follow the instructions of their handlers and play their normal game.
“These girls have shown a lot of zeal from the beginning. So I do not doubt their determination. The best advice I have is that they should not underrate any team,’’ she said.
The former coach also recommended that foreign training tours should be organised for the girls, to expose those who would be featuring in the competition for the first time.
The coordinator of the Super Falcons, Henrietta Ukaigwe, also tasked the team to surpass the achievements of their predecessors.
According to her, getting to the final would create opportunities unimaginable for them.
“The Flamingoes in the last edition dropped at the quarter-finals. This time, I urge them to go all the way to the final because this would open doors for them in the world,’’ she said.
Ukaigwe,who commended the team, described them as hardworking, dedicated and with experienced coaches.
“They have been dedicated from the qualifiers and I know there would be training tours to prepare them ahead of the competition in September.
“I implore them to adhere to the rules of the game. If they can put all these into consideration with their unwavering focus, they would go a long way at the games,’’ she said.
The Nigeria Football Association’s Director of Competitions, Mohammed Sanusi, said the team should remain focused and disciplined.
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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