Sports
South South Zone Has The Potentials To Win nsf – Zonal Coordinator
The South-South Zonal Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Sylvester Essiet has said athletes in the zone have the potentials to win the forthcoming National Sports Festival, (NSF) slated to hold in Edo State, this week.
He stated that the zone has been the pride of Nigeria in terms of sports, as majority of the athletes making wave in and outside the country are indigenes of the zone.
Essiet said this shortly after the finals of the football event at the just concluded National principal cup zonal qualifiers, held at Sharks Football stadium, in Port Harcourt.
According to him, the governors in the south south are sports-loving governors; they invest in sports by promoting and building sporting facilities.
“I will say that the south south is on top when it comes to sports in Nigeria. It is on record that majority of Nigerian athletes making waves in the country and internationally are from the zone.
It is not arguable that Delta State has won the National Sports Festival back to back. This shows that the governors are really doing well,” Essiet said.
The zonal coordinator noted that there were pockets of over-aged athletes being featured during the competition, but the ministry was working out modalities to stop age cheating, saying that fielding over-aged children in secondary School games will defeat the purpose of catching them young.
He advised coaches to do things right and remove the mindset of coming to win it all, adding that competition is not all about winning, but the basic thing is to discover talents from the grassroots.
Essiet, used the opportunity to thank the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare for reviving the schools sports after several years of abandonment.
“I specially thank the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for hosting the zonal qualifiers in the State. We enjoyed the enabling environment created for us to do the competition successfully,” he stated.
By: Tonye Orabere
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.