Sports
Ondo Assures Athletes Of Reward
The Ondo State Government will reward hard working athletes in the state, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, the state’s Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports, assured yesterday in Akure.
He gave the assurance in Akure while receiving athletes who represented the state and excelled in various local and international competitions, including wrestling, volleyball, weightlifting, table tennis and football.
Yusuf-Ogunleye, who said arrangement had been concluded to give the athletes a state reception, called on them to intensify efforts to win more medals for the state.
“We are very happy with the performances recorded by our athletes in various sports. This has shown us that, with more incentives, we can conquer the world.
“The success recorded in wrestling, weightlifting, football, volleyball and table tennis did not come by accident but due to the available talents as well as encouragement from the state government.
“It is on this note that I congratulate all the winners,’’ he said.
The commissioner, however, noted that it was difficult for the state government to put in place much more financial motivation for the sportsmen and women due to paucity of funds.
He disclosed that there were workers in the Ondo State Football Agency who had not been paid their salaries for 12 months.
Yusuf-Ogunleye, who said the present administration in the state was on a rescue mission, assured athletes of better days ahead.
Earlier, the Director of Sports, Ondo State Sports Council, Martins Adeojo, said the present administration in the state had achieved a lot in less than a year, especially in sports development.
Adeojo, who presented the athletes to the commissioner, said the medals won for the country by the state indigenes was as a result of the unflinching support received from Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
He, however, called on the state government to do more in the area of financial encouragement and provision of facilities.
The Tide source reports that Odunayo Adekuoroye, Aminat Adeniyi, John Emmanuel, Bisola Makanjuola, and Samuel Bose had won gold and silver medals in wrestling for Nigeria.
They won them at the African Senior Championship in Morocco.
Adekunoroye also won a silver medal for Nigeria in the women’s competition at the World Wrestling Championship in Paris.
In weightlifting, Fatima Yakubu won three gold medals for Nigeria at the African Championship in Uganda.
Matty Taiwo won two gold and one bronze medals at the ITTF African Junior Tournament in Egypt.
The state also emerged third on the overall medals table, out of 35 states at the 2017 National Youth Games in Ilorin, with 12 gold,12 silver and 12 bronze medals.
NAN also reports that three players from the state are currently at the national volleyball camp in Abuja ahead of the African Championship in Egypt.
At the occasion, the management of Sunshine Stars FC of Akure presented the Fair Play Trophy the team won at the just-concluded 2017 Men’s AITEO Cup.
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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