Sports
Armwrestling Tourney Winner To Represent Nigeria
I cannot wait to represent
Nigeria at an international armwrestling competition,’’ said Raphael Ubah, who defended his 100kg male category title at the Lagos Invitational Armwrestling Championships which ended on Saturday.
Ubah told newsmen after retaining the title that he trained hard before the competition and attributed the feat to sheer determination. “I was devoted to my training because I knew what was at stake. I kept training and banked on luck from God,’’ he said. The Energy Armwrestling Club of Owerri athlete said that though he had yet to represent Nigeria at an international tournament he could not wait to do so. “It’s a relatively new sport in Nigeria and I am putting in so much effort to build up myself for national assignments.
“Every athlete’s dream is to represent his or her country at international competitions,’’ he said. Becky Ademoh, a female 90kg wrestler, who uprooted Ijeoma Soribe, a two-time champion, said that in the last two years she had been playing second fiddle to Soribe. She added that she had been looking forward to the victory because she prepared for it. “It wasn’t an easy task wrestling with her in the final. She is a top athlete that I had to challenge her and win,’’ she said. The Lagos State Armwrestling Club member said she started the sport two years ago, adding that she was impressed with what she had achieved. Soribe, the former female champion, described the loss as unfortunate but promised to re-launch herself and reclaim her title.
“Defeat is not meant to weigh someone down but rather spur one into getting better. Defeat is a challenge to do better,’’ she said. Tidesports source reports that no fewer than 70 armwrestlers took part in the two-day competition at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. Some of the gold medal winners are Adebukola Adeyanju, Becky Ademoh, Olajide Martins, Adeyinka Adeyemi, Toyin Amode, Ugochukwu Ugonna and Raphael Ubah. The silver medallists are Egbula Asumpta, Ijeoma Soribe, Idris Abubakar, Kingsley Onuoha, Bidemi Yanyanbini, Ogbonna Chukwu and Maxwell Okeke. Ademoh and Ubah emerged the best female and male players respectively and got N 25,000 each. Each gold medalist got N5,000, silver medalists N3,000 and bronze winners N2,000.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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