Sports
Director Lists Gains Of DAWN
The Director of
Organisation, Oyo State Sports Council, Gboyega Makinde, has said that the Development Agenda for West Africa (DAWN) Games would expose talents at the grassroots in the state.
The DAWN Games (South-West States Secondary Schools Games), which began in Lagos on May 16, would end on May 24.
Makinde told our correspondent that the competition would encourage the state athletes to participate in more sport programmes at the grassroots.
“The tournament is inspiring us to build up a grassroots programme which will help nurture talents that will be of immense benefit to the state.
“It will positively engage the youths and take them off the streets and equally make them good ambassadors of the state,’’ he said.
Makinde also commended the Lagos State for hosting the tournament and expressed the hope that the tournament would become a prominent competition in the South West.
“The host state has done its best. You cannot satisfy everybody, but it is a fair organisation and if it continues this way, that means the South West states will go places in National Championships.
Makinde was also sure that Oyo State would win the championship.
“We hope to win the competition and if we do not win, it is not a do or die situation. We are here to expose and develop our talents.
“When our athletes mature, we will be able to use them for future competitions,’’ he said.
Over 2,000 athletes from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos States competed for honours in 12 sports.
Ondo State, however, failed to participate.
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.
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