Sports

Nigeria’s Top Badminton Players Happy With Achievements

Published

6 years ago

July 23, 2018

Nigeria’s top-seeded badminton player, Dorcas Adesokan has expressed delight that she was able to reach the podium at the just-concluded 4th Lagos International Badminton Classics.
The competition which served off on July 18 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, ended on July 21 with India topping the medals table with three gold and three silver medals.
Misha Zilberman of Israel crushed Ramdam Misburn of Maylasia, 10-21, 21-19, 21-12 in a hard-fought game to emerge the men’s singles champion.
Ksenia Polikaprova beat Sree Krishina Priya, 20-22, 21-16 and 27-25 in a thrilling encounter to claim the women’s singles title.
The duo of India Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy defeated their compatriots, Vaibhaav T.and Prakash Rajs, 21-12, 21-12 to claim the men’s doubles gold medal.
Similarly, Riya Mookerjee and Kuhoo Garg beat fellow Indians, Harka V. and Karishima W., 21-12, 21-12 to emerge the women’s doubles champions.
It was also an all-Indian mixed doubles final as the duo of Manu Attri and Manessha K. defeated Roman Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg, 21-11, 22-20 to claim the available gold medal.
Nigeria’s Adesokan, playing one of her toughest games so far, reached the podium by finishing in the third position in the women’s singles.
She told newsmen after receiving her first-ever championship medal that she can only get better as she worked her socks off to reach the podium.
“I am happy about my achievement. I can only get better, with a longer period in training and better preparations, I know I will be aiming for the gold in coming editions.
“I met a lot of top players from India, Indonesia and some European nations and was able to stand my ground to progress ahead of them.
“With more championships coming up, the future is very bright for us in Nigeria and all we have to do is to just continue to work very hard.
“This is what other players coming from other countries do; there is no magic but hard work, and with better preparations, we will get to dominate the scene soon,’’ Adesokan said.
Anuoluwapo Opeyori, who made it to the men’s singles quarterfinals, also said that it was a great result for him, going by the quality of foreign players at the championships.
“There were 22 countries in the competition and majority were top players, looking to gather some points to help their world rankings. This made the championship highly competitive.
“I got to the quarterfinals and sincerely, I feel good about it, I have seen areas I need to work on, I feel I am getting closer to winning a medal someday soon.
“With longer periods of training and good preparations, I believe I can achieve that,’’ Opeyori said.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Mr Francis Orbih, told newsmen that the future is bright for badminton in Nigeria, with more corporate sponsors turning in their support.
He also expressed gratitude to the Lagos State Sports Council for the financial and moral support it has given to badminton in Nigeria.
“It was a successful competition and we are looking ahead for better championship finals where Nigerians would be winning the top prizes.
“We will return to the drawing board and see how to get the players to that level which has to come with good training and more national competitions.
“It has also been a successful event, looking at the number of participants from foreign countries and we expect it to get even bigger next year because it is an Olympic year.
“We thank everybody who has made this year’s event a wonderful one and we are confident of hosting much bigger ones subsequently,’’ Orbih said.

Sports

Expert Wants Parents To Enroll Children In Vector Programme

Published

4 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

4 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

4 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).