Sports
Team Rivers Fortifies Preparation For 2021 NYG
As the 2021 edition of the National Youth Games (NYG) draws close, Team Rivers athletes have continued to fortify their preparation for the completion which is scheduled to hold in llorin, Kwara State.
Coach of the Rivers State Weight Lifting Association, Eli Oyonomunede, has said that preparation is in top gear for his athletes as they are in high spirit and are determined to do the state proud when the competition gets underway.
“My weightlifters are set and are ready for the task ahead, they have been training all this while, it is now time to show the stuff they are made of, he said.
.I urged the athletes to keep doing what they do, and not to relent in their efforts to ensure a favourable outing in Ilorin, come next month.
According to him, the team now waits for a camping to further strengthen their preparation made so far, for the competition which is expected to hold next month.
Meanwhile, this years’s NYG, competition is scheduled to hold tnext month in Kwara State.
It would be recalled that the host state would be organising the festival for the fourth time now, as it has a straight five hosting right to the completion.
Teams Rivers clinched 10 in the last edition, while Delta, Lagos and Edo cart home, first, second and third position respectively.
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.