Sports
Olympic Games: Putting Nigeria On Road To Redemption
Contd from Friday
IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY
That is the objective.
To achieve it requires a two-pronged strategy: the first, a
short-term, top-down approach and the second a long-term, bottom-up approach.
In the short term, current elite athletes like Okagbare,
Chika Chukwumerije and the very improved basketball team for instance will get
funding and assistance to maintain and improve on their current performance
levels.
Where they drop below acceptable standards, they lose their
elite status and their funding shifted elsewhere.
But the nuts and bolts of this whole programme will be based
on the long term strategy.
That is where, again, the minister has it spot on. A
structured, sustained, year-round calendar of sporting activities for schools
from primary through secondary and all the way to university level is the key.
In the USA, there is a working template to be borrowed and
tweaked to suit our circumstances.
In a country of arguably 150 million people, it is hard to
fathom that there are no talents capable of being nurtured into world-class
athletes.
These talents must be identified at that young age through
school sports, helped along the way to developing that talent with structured,
world-class training, proper funding and continued assistance and monitoring of
their development every step of the way.
Progress must be measured at regular intervals with key
objectives set and met every step of the way.
Long term, a world-class sports training facility must be
built within the country.
To assure maintenance, such a facility is best built, owned
and operated privately, and rented out, clad in impenetrable cast-iron
contract, at break-even costs to the NSC or sporting federations.
In the short to medium term, however, these athletes should
be sent on scholarships to countries where their particular sport has the best
personnel and equipment.
The USA, China and Russia come to mind.
DEVELOP A WINNING MENTALITY
After the women’s 100m final, word went around that
Nigerians should draw consolation from having Okagbare as the eighth fastest
woman in the world.
The insane absurdity of that statement absolutely defies
comprehension.
But that is the sort of defeatist mentality with which we
roll at the moment.
To understand the attitude that wins medals, one has to read
former athlete Enefiok Udo-Obong’s book ‘The Silver Lining’, then go back and
watch him race at Sydney 2000.
The book chronicles Udo-Obong’s focused fixation on athletic
and academic success, even as a strapping young kid.
In Sydney, Udo-Obong was handed the baton in the final lap
of the 4x400m relay with four runners ahead of him.
He could have given up, just run to fulfil all
righteousness. Instead, an asthmatic young man, determined to win, conjured up
every last iota of strength to make a push for gold.
Watch the last few seconds of that relay.
See how Udo-Obong strained every last sinew, stretched every
last muscle, and nearly exploded his heart in a lung-bursting sprint to the
tape
By the 200m mark he had overtaken two runners. On the home
stretch, he had whistled past a third.
The whole country was screaming, running with him by the
time he dipped his head just behind the American, who won gold.
I still get goose-bumps reliving that race.
Now, 12 years on, that silver has turned to gold, because
one of the Americans was caught using drugs, and the team disqualified.
That is the reward for a winning mentality. That video needs
to be shown in schools, to young aspiring athletes all over the country
And Udo-Obong himself should be invited to give motivational
speeches to these kids.
That is how to build winners.
POTENTIAL ROADBLOCKS AND PITFALLS
However much anyone wants to believe in the opposite, none
of these will happen without opposition.
The ministry, and the federations are populated with people
who benefit from this broken system.
These people will fight their hardest, in every single
sneaky, backstabbing way to derail any plan to fix the rot and deny them the
benefits of their gravy train.
It is the reason why a house clearing must happen before any
of this can work.
Too many people have been there too many decades and know no
other way to do things.
Some are so backward email sounds like Greek to them.
Operating a database or other digital systems will probably lead to cardiac
arrests.
Keeping them will stymie, even kill the process.
They have to go. Minister Abdullahi MUST embark on
house-cleaning. It is the only way to make a fresh start.
PROJECTION
Results may not show at the next Olympics. He would be
foolish who would expect it to.
Whatever successes, if any, are recorded at Rio 2016 should
be considered a bonus. The real, realistic target should be 2020.
There is never a better time to start than the present.
Otherwise, four years from now, we will return to this same finish line,
wondering why we finished last.
Again.
Concluded
Udoh writes for KickoffNigeri.Com
Colin Udoh
Liverpool’s season of abject misery worsened as they were beaten with embarrassing ease by a hugely impressive Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Manchester City, but instead ran into a Forest side revitalised under new manager Sean Dyche and looking back to their best.
Liverpool head coach Slot gave £125m British record signing Alexander Isak a start, but he was totally anonymous once more and only lasted 67 minutes.
Forest went ahead after 33 minutes when defender Murillo shot powerfully past fit-again Liverpool keeper Alisson to subdue an already anxious Anfield.
Igor Jesus had a second ruled out for handball, but Forest doubled their advantage 39 seconds after the break when former Liverpool defender Neco Williams set up Nicola Savona for a crisp finish in front of The Kop.
Liverpool could barely raise a response in a desperate display, Forest increasing their lead 12 minutes from time when Morgan Gibbs-White scored after Alisson saved from Omari Hutchinson.
It means Liverpool, who lie 11th before Saturday’s late fixture, have now lost six of their past seven Premier League games as Slot’s near £450m summer spending spree comes under further scrutiny.
Forest, meanwhile, are surging away from the relegation zone and are up to 16th.
Michael Olise scored twice and provided a hat-trick of assists as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich came from two goals down to thrash Freiburg.
The visitors stunned the defending champions by taking a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes when Yuito Suzuki scored from close range and Johan Manzambi rose highest to head home Jan-Niklas Beste’s corner.
Bayern, who had not lost in the league since March, responded superbly and had restored parity by half-time.
Teenager Lennart Karl fired into the bottom corner from Olise’s pass in the 22nd minute and set up the Frenchman for a fierce finish in first-half injury-time, although Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu should have done better.
Bayern took control in the second period as Dayot Upamecano headed home Olise’s corner to put them ahead for the first time.
England captain Harry Kane netted his 14th league goal of the campaign on the hour mark, before Olise made it three assists when he threaded a pass through for Nicolas Jackson to finish at the first time of asking in the 78th minute.
Winger Olise completed a sensational afternoon with his second of the game six minutes later, driving at the Freiburg defence and curling into the far corner.
A 10th victory in the first 11 games left Bayern eight points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Freiburg remain 10th in the standings.
Vincent Kompany’s side visit Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday with both sides having a perfect record of four wins so far in the league phase of the competition.
AS FAR Morocco Win African Women’s Champions League (8)
AS FAR held firm to beat debutants ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the African Women’s Champions League final and become continental champions for the second time.
Hanane Ait El Haj put the Moroccan club ahead from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after Safa Banouk had been tripped by Aboa Yapo.
ASEC Mimosas rallied after the break and Ami Priscal Diallo netted a fine header from Sopie Brou’s cross to drag the Ivory Coast club level 10 minutes into the second half.
But AS FAR were handed a second spot-kick in the closing stages when Noura Diarra committed a rash challenge on Sofia Bouftini.
This time it was Zineb Redouani who stepped up to stroke home in the 85th minute and restore her side’s lead.
Asastasie Gbehi came close to forcing extra time but she poked wide of the post in stoppage time, and the centre-back was sent off after the full-time whistle for dissent.
AS FAR move level with South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns as two-time winners of the title, having first lifted the trophy in 2022.
The Rabat-based side will now take on Chinese’s Wuhan Jiangda on 14 December for a place at next year’s Fifa Women’s Champions Cup.
The winner of that match will face European champions Arsenal in the semi-finals of the inaugural competition early next year in London.
Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga on Saturday with an emphatic win over 10-man Athletic Club in their first match at the Spotify Camp Nou since May 2023.
Robert Lewandowski scored their first goal back in their iconic home, which had been closed for extensive renovations, in the fourth minute.
Ferran Torres then netted twice in the second half, each assisted by wonderful skill from Lamine Yamal, who was aged just 15 in his only previous Nou Camp appearance.
Fermin Lopez also struck in the 48th minute, while visiting midfielder Oihan Sancet was sent off for a crude challenge on Lopez just six minutes later.
Large sections of the Nou Camp remained closed for the game, which was played in front of a 45,157 crowd.
The rebuilding work, which was originally scheduled to be finished in November 2024, will eventually increase the stadium’s capacity to 105,000.
Barca moved to 31 points from 13 games and top on goal difference, but Real Madrid had the chance to replace them, if they won at Elche in their game in hand, late last night.
Poland striker Lewandowski got his side off to the perfect start when he drove his low shot in off the arm of Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simon for an eighth league goal of the season.
The home side extended their lead in first-half added time as Yamal’s superb pass off the outside of his foot set up Torres for a good finish.
Lopez made it 3-0 three minutes after the restart, drilling a shot past Simon from near the penalty spot.
Sancet’s tackle from behind on Lopez was initially deemed a yellow card, but upgraded to red after the referee consulted with the video assistant referee (VAR).
And just before full-time, Yamal twisted and turned before sending Torres away to claim his second goal, which was originally disallowed for offside but overturned following a VAR check.
It was a dream return to their ground, with the reigning Spanish champions having mostly played at the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill since renovations on the Nou Camp began in June 2023.
They were forced to play two matches at the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium, home to their women’s team, this season after failing to get a permit for the Nou Camp through safety reasons.
Pogba Returns To Action In Ligue 1 (6)
Paul Pogba played his first minutes of professional football in more than two years as he came off the bench during Monaco’s 4-1 defeat by Rennes at the weekend.
The 32-year-old was introduced in the 85th minute at Rennes’ Roazhon Park, though his side were already four goals and a player down, following a red card for captain Denis Zakaria.
French World Cup winner Pogba broke down in tears when he joined Ligue 1 club Monaco last summer, after his four-year doping ban was reduced to 19 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
Pogba’s last competitive appearance was 811 days ago, when he featured for Juventus in a Serie A match against Empoli on 3 September 2023. He left Juventus by mutual consent in November 2024.
Pogba was provisionally banned from football for four years after a positive test for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in February 2024, following a doping test in August 2023.
Pogba maintained it was a mistake and that he was given a supplement without knowing it contained a banned substance.
The former Manchester United midfielder was permitted to return to football in March following the decision to reduce his ban.
Pogba watched from the bench as goals from Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, Mahdi Camara, Breel Embolo and Ludovic Blas put Rennes out of sight.
Fellow substitute Mika Biereth pulled a goal back for Monaco in the 95th minute, but a second consecutive 4-1 defeat means Sebastien Pocognoli’s side drop to eighth in the table with 20 points after 13 games.
