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Coach Canvasses Better Welfare For Athletes

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A wrestling coach, Enekpedekumor Okporu  in Lagos flayed what he called the neglect of athletes in other sports other than football.

Okporu told newsmen that amateur wrestling had suffered because of the long abandonment of the sport.

“Nobody cares about wrestling in the country and it extends to other sports except football although those other sports have been clinching medals for the country yet no appreciation,” he said.

Okporu, who won a gold medal at the 1991 All Africa Games, said no allowance had been paid the wrestlers currently in camp in Bayelsa.

The Bayelsa wrestling coach said the athletes were training for the World Senior Wrestling Championships scheduled for September 9 to September 19 in Istanbul, Turkey.

“We have been in camp for two weeks now yet the wrestlers have not got their allowance which is not good for sports development.

“Not minding that we are struggling to prepare for the qualification process for the London 2012 Olympics, yet the training facilities in the camp are inadequate and poor.

“For a long time now, we have been managing and are used to managing while improvising and that is how we have been coping in camp,” Okporu said.

Segun Akinlotan, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) Secretary, said the team would depart for the championships on September 11.

Akinlotan said that the competition would be preceded by the congress slated for September 10 while arrival had been fixed for September 9.

“We have decided to depart for Istanbul on September 11 because from our experience from previous championships one finds it difficult to train while in the venue of the event.

“Thus our departure has been slated for September 11 while our first event in Greco-Roman comes up on September 13,’’ Akinlotan said.

He said that five wrestlers and three officials would go for the competition which would serve as one of the qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics in London.

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Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak

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England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.

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Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again

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Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.

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Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International

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Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.

Kiadum Edookor

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