Sports
NFA Declares Support For Keshi
The Technical and
Development Committee of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has said that the association has no plans to hire a foreign technical assistant for Super Eagles head coach Stephen Keshi.
The committee said this last Wednesday after its meeting in Abuja, assuring that the NFA was ready to give Keshi all the support he needed to succeed.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, a member of the committee, told newsmen the committee Emmanuel Ikpeme, needed to make clarifications on certain issues.
He said the task of participating at the Brazil 2014 World Cup was important and the NFA felt it was necessary to give the Super Eagles all-round support.
Ikpeme said the support was necessary “especially now that the Eagles are about to commence preparations for the World Cup in Brazil’’.
Keshi has led the Eagles to qualification for the 2014 World Cup slated for Brazil from June 12 to July 13.
Ikpeme, who is NFA’s Director, Technical, said the committee did not at any time approve or recommend the appointment of any foreign assistant for Keshi.
“It is absolutely very important to reiterate that at no point did the Technical and Development Committee of the NFA ever recommend for the appointment of a technical assistant to Keshi.
“Again, it is also important to reiterate that the NFA is committed to ensuring that Keshi has 100 per cent support of the football house.
“This is to ensure that we have a good outing at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,’’ he said.
The NFA director also said Keshi has a running contract with the NFA, and that such a situation would make any negotiation he would have with any other football association baseless.
He, therefore, described as “mere speculation’’ the reported request by the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) for Keshi to come and negotiate with them on coaching the Bafana Bafana.
“To me, those reports are speculations. These are all media stories and I don’t think there is any element of truth in that,’’ Ikpeme said.
On Keshi’s request for the recall of Sylvanus Okpala, his sacked assistant coach, the NFA official said it was beyond his jurisdiction to comment on.
Speaking further on the committee’s meeting, Ikpeme said it has recommended to the NFA Executive Committee the upgrading of coach Manu Garba and one of his Golden Eaglets’ assistants.
“The committee had recommended the appointment of Garba as Head Coach of the national under-20 team, the Flying Eagles.
“The committee also recommended to the NFA board the appointment of Nduka Ugbade and Fancy Ewulu as Assistant Coach and Goalkeeper Coach respectively,’’ he said.
Ikpeme said the committee also recommended for the approval of the NFA board the obtaining of a compulsory NFA Coaching Licence for all indigenous coaches.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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