Sports
Stakeholders Seek Return Of Baseball, Softball To NSF
Fans of Baseball and Softball say they will institute a democratic leadership and return to the mainstream of sports in Nigeria by affiliating with the National Sports Commission (NSC).
This was part of the decisions reached last week at the Baseball and Softball Summit 2013 held at the Kwara Stadium, Ilorin.
The brainstorming session, which had six outlined objectives, lasted about three hours with submissions from stakeholders across the federation.
The objectives of the summit according to the sponsor and Chairman of Kwara Baseball and Softball Association, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, included getting the game back to the National Sports Festival.
This, he said, was to achieve a democratic baseball and softball federation to attract the requisite government support and drive sponsorship.
Other reasons, he said, were to enroll committed persons from states to lead baseball and softball in a democratic way and to propagate an all-year-round active baseball and softball activities.
Delivering Ibrahim’s message at the Summit, his representative, Raphael Farounbi, said the gathering was to brainstorm on how to move baseball and softball forward in Nigeria.
He said that state leagues and associations were not active, adding that the leadership of the sport was for all.
The lecturer at the summit an ex-baseball player, Olajide Fashikun, said baseball and softball had a firm root in Nigeria and charged the stakeholders to belong to a progressive family.
He advocated for a baseball league, saying Ghana and Uganda had overtaken Nigeria because they had good organisational ability.
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.