The lawmaker representing Port Harcourt Constituency III, in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Azeru Opara has called on the youth in his constituency to engage themselves in sporting activities and stop social vices.
Hon. Opara, who is also the sponsor of the tournament noted that sport is one thing that exposes people to limelight in any society.
The lawmaker who was represented by his Special Assistant, Yusuf Momoh made the called at the weekend, during the opening ceremony of Diobu Youth Football Association Tournament, at St. Andrews Primary School, Mile One Diobu, Port Harcourt.
“Stop social vices and involve yourself in sporting activities. There are a lot of benefits in sports” Hon Opara said.
He commended the coordinator of the competition Junior Obianime, for putting the tournament together.
Hon Opara, further pledged to not fail the people of his constituency as they voted for him, saying that this is part of his electioneering campaign promises.
Also speaking the coordinator of the competition Junior Obianime stated that the competition is about bringing the youth of the area together through football tournaments, adding that sports, mostly football is one event that brings peace among the youth.
According to him, 16 teams registered for the tournament, as winner of the tournament will go home with the sum of N200, 000, while second and third place will walk away with N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.
Obiani used the medium to thank the sponsor of the competition Hon. Opara, for keeping to his electioneering campaign promises.
The opening match was between Mile one market FC and St. Thomas FC which ended 3-1 in favour of St. Thomas in a spot kick after regulation time.

Kiadum Edookor

Asante Kotoko of Ghana’s Captain Felix Annan said his side are confident of beating Kano Pillars in the return leg of the 2019/2020 CAF champions league first preliminary stage round.
Both side will meet for the second clash this Friday in Ghana, after the first meeting ended 2-3 in favor of the Sai Masu Gida
However, speaking ahead of the decider which will hold in Kumasi, Annan said they now understand how Kano Pillars are set up to play and believed that they are capable of completing the job in front of their home fans.
“It is always difficult playing away from home in the champions league but to score 2 goals is a plus and it gives us much confidence going into the second leg in Kumasi.”
“We are very confident because of our play and knowing how they (Kano pillars) play now. So with our fans, we believe we will surely beat them. We now know their strength and weakness so we will work on that.” Annan said.
Kano Pillars must avoid defeat in Kumasi if they are to go through to the next round of the elite competition

The senior National Basketball men’s team, D’Tigers’ earlier scheduled trip to China in continuation of their preparation for the FIBA World Cup may have suffered a setback over paucity of funds.
The Nigeria Basketball Federation is said to be struggling to raise funds for the tour.
This was made known to journalists at the weekend by the General Manager of the team, Musa Adamu when asked about the team’s planned trip for the FIBA 2019 World Cup in China.
Tidesports source reports that the competition dunks off on August 31, and has Nigeria in Group B with Russia, Argentina and South Korea
Nigeria had lined up series of warm up matches in Shanghai, China to further fine tune the team’s preparations.
However, Adamu said paucity of funds may cause serious blow to the team’s preparations.
According to him, efforts to secure funds from the Federal Ministry of Sports for the trip has not yielded result.
“I cannot tell you exactly when the team is leaving for China, the basketball federation has been doing a lot for this team.
“We started this elimination over a year ago and now going to two years and the federation has been funding the trips for each window.
“Each window, we had to bring players, fly them down, accommodate them and also pay insurance, and all these things have been done singlehandedly by the federation.
“What we’ve heard are just promises from the ministry to support us, but we are still expecting and hoping that they will do so before we leave for China,” Adamu said.
Adamu, an ex international, said that despite plans to adequately prepare the team for the apex global sports fiesta, the unavailability of funds might just be the clog in the wheel of the team’s preparation.
“The team is here in Nigeria, so we hope that they will act because we don’t know when we will leave. There are no funds available for now.
“The federation is looking up to the Ministry with the hope that the funds will be released for us to leave on time.”
Adamu applauded the Engr. Musa Kida led NBBF board for their selfless sacrifice throughout the qualifiers.
The D’Tigers general manager appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, so as to save the country from global embarrassment.
“I wish to appreciate the federation, the President, Engr Musa Kida and the board, they  have been doing so much for this team and basketball and I think it’s time for government to step in and assist us.”
Adamu revealed that the current players in camp are talented, motivated and ready to represent Nigeria well.
“I will like to use the forum to call on the President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari to turn his eyes a little bit to the D’Tigers because they are also a national team.
“We are expecting support from him to release funds for our team to be able to participate in this World Cup.”
Adamu noted that Nigeria was the first country in the world to qualify for the World cup, but may end up not participating in the competition.
“We have come a long way. We have a very good, ambitious and motivated team. We really hope that the President will try to help his children, his people, to be able to participate in this World  Cup, ” Adamu said.