Ogun Celebrates Hockey Victory At NSF

Ogun’s victory over hosts Rivers in the men’s hockey final of the just concluded 17th National Sports Festival, Garden City Games 2011, has been the result of hardwork and dedication to duty, made the attribution just before leaving Coach Agbaje Adewale said in Port Harcourt at the weekend.

Ogun won 5-4 on penalty strokes following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the competition’s final game.

Adewale led a team of young players to beat the host team led by his own former Coach, Tunde Odedokun, and in spite of the vociferous support for the home team.

“It is the result of hardwork and dedication to the cause by all that are involved in this task, and we are grateful to God for crowning our efforts with victory,’’ he said.

The coach said he, his players and other officials had put in many months into preparing for the festival.

“It was really tough on us, but we knew what was at stake and never looked back. Now, we can look back with satisfaction to say the end has justified the means,’’ he said.

Adewale said that the victory was “very sweet’’ for his team, in view of the stiff opposition it faced on the way to the final.

“It is a victory we will savour for a long time, because we camped for four months for this, training very hard and sacrificing a lot.