Odili Calls For Equall Attention To All Sports In Rivers

A former president of Port Harcourt Club, Barrister Henry Odili has appealed to the Rivers State government to give equal attention to all sports in the state.

Barrister Odili, who made the call while fielding questions from sports journalists at the just-concluded 25th edition of October Open National Single and Doubles Darts Championship at the club said that by so doing, more talents would be discovered for the forthcoming National Sports Festival, due to be held in the state next year.

He said that it was unfortunate that during, the four-day tournament, no government, especially, Sports ministry’s presence was felt financially and otherwise. According to him, members of the club and the section had to single-handedly sponsor the tournament in order to promote the game and the state in general.

Odili said that, they decided to finance the game with the determination to do a good job, and it was confirmed as the best organised national Darts tournament, with over 100 participants from all the states of the federation.

Barrister Odili, who was the chairman of the local organising committee of the tournament hinted that, although Darts is relatively new in the state and was revived recently at the Port Harcourt Club the games were exciting.

He promised that they would do better next year as they have learnt a lot and discovered talents that if groomed, could represent the state in national tournaments.

He gave kudos to all the players for their performance.

Winners of the 2009 Federation Cup with 701 points include Makoshi Ayuba from Katsina State, who took the first position, followed by Bassey Omokpagha from Red Lion Dart Club and Soloki Awobotu from Abeokuta Dart Club.

Collins Barasimeye