Sports
Rivers Plans To Retain Abula Title
Rivers State Abula team, one of the national traditional sports, has assured Rivers people that they will retain the gold medals won during the “Garden City Games 2011,” in Port Harcourt at the 18th edition scheduled for Lagos next year.
Head coach of Abula in the state, Paul Asaah gave the assurance yesterday during one of their training sessions at the Alfred Diette-Spiff Sports Complex, Port Harcourt.
According to him, the body has begun preparations for the 2012 National Sports Festival, saying that, early preparation is the bedrock of success.
“I can assure you that I will bring back the three gold medals won recently at the NSF held in the state as my team is still in tact, with the same players that won all three laurels in the Abula traditional sports events during the 201 fiesta,” he said.
He continued that he would prove to people that he merited the victories and stated that the team did not cheat or buy any of the medals won as their success were due to hard work and commitment.
Coach Asaah, said that the players were doing well as they have been in good form ever since the festival and look poised to do better in future challenges.
It would be recalled that Rivers State Abula team won all three gold medals competed for during the “Garden City Games 2011” in the male, female and mixed-double events.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.