Volleyballers Prepare For 2012 Olympic Qualifiers

The President, Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Habu Gumel,  said that the national team players had resumed camping for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Gumel told the newsmen in Abuja that the players started camping in the second week of February at the Jabi Lake Hotel.

“We are preparing now to ensure that we qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and we will do our best to qualify,’’ he said.

Gumel said the players were being accorded good services in the camp.

He added that the federation would attend a meeting of the African body in Cairo, Egypt, where decision on the date and country to host the qualifiers would be taken next week.

Mr Musa Nimrod, the Chairman, Nigeria Beach Volleyball Committee, called on private organisations to sponsor the committee’s programmes which, he said, would enable them to discover more players.

“The 2012 budget is not out, and we have many tournaments to host in order to discover talents, so how can we host our events when there is no money.

“We appreciate what Aso Savings Loans Ltd and Samsung Electronics are doing to sponsor our events and we look forward to their sustaining the sponsorships.

“In FCT alone, we have 21 teams, which is a great achievement and if we can sustain indoor volleyball, it will help us to discover future players,’’ he said.

Nimrod noted that the current indoor players were ageing and short, and would not be able to spike well during competitions.

“We are looking forward to having more sponsorship for competitions which will help us have new players.

“We are also looking forward to having taller players with height not less than 1.6 metres, 1.7 metres and 1.8 metres,’’ he said.

Nimrod said that the federation was already preparing to develop volleyball at the grassroots.

“We are going back to the grassroots in the next two weeks to start a competition for secondary schools.

“We don’t have young players, so the best is to go back to secondary schools and nurture them.

“If we can nurture them, I tell you that we will go back to the 1980s where we are coming from,’’ he said.