Sports
Former Gov Pulls Out Of Weightlifting Presidential Race
Former President of the Nigeria Judo Federation, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has decided to pull out of the race to become president of the Weightlifting federation of Nigeria.
This decision was reached after due consultation with friends who advised him to pull his weight behind another contestant, Lawrence Iquaibom, a former commonwealth cham-pion in the sport.
As Africa Pillar of Sports, Kalu reckons that he needs to play the big brother role to a former Olympian, who has indeed invested his passion and money into developing the sport at state and National levels and should not be seen as an elder who wants to reap where he has not sowed.
“My intention was clear from the onset. I wanted to return weightlifting to where it used to be. This is one sport that can give us medals at major international compe-titions. Everyone knows what I achieved as president of the Nigeria Judo Federation and now, as Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, I thought I could support Weight-lifting, as part of my contribution to youth development.
“However, after due consultations with stakeholders of the sport, I realised that a former olympian and one time commonwealth cham-pion is already in the race and I thought that there was need to encourage him since he has same zeal to move the sport forward”.
“On my part, I am willing to offer any kind of support, if need be, to the federation whenever necessary. Since we have the same intention, which is to rebrand weightlifting in Nigeria, there is absolutely no need to contest against a young and committed stake-holder, who truly has the interest of the sport at heart,” Kalu said.
This year the number of registered clubs was far below the previous year’s, where the number of registered Clubs got up to 30 or more. This may not be unconnected with the short time given for registration by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Earlier, the Acting Chairman of Rivers State Football Association (RSFA), Ibigoni Benjamin Akobo, has called for the readjustment of the time table.
According to him, the deadlines given to State FAs to register clubs, preparation of licences, commencement of the competition and conclusion were really short and tasking.
“ For them to have waited from January, for only last week to make a statement and send timetable for the competition was a near failure.
We are not expected to commence registration without given a go ahead” Akubo said.
He equally said that this was exactly what happened last year and finally came up to say that states should submit one team each.
“ Last year too, they came up with this delay manner and ended up saying that states should produce one team each” he stated.
By: Tonye Orabere
Six giants in the fast developing women league will battle for the sole ticket to represent Nigeria at the regional second edition of the CAF Women Champions League .
The six participating teams are host state team, Edo Queens , defending champion, Rivers Angels, Bayelsa Queens, new comers, Naija Ratels, Nasarawa Amazons and runners up in the first edition, Delta Queens .
The teams qualified from two groups, based on their placement in each group in the regular season.
While Nasarawa Amazons, Edo Queens and Naija Ratels emerged the three best teams from their group, Bayelsa Queens, Rivers Angels and Delta Queens, outwitted other teams to pick the three available tickets from their group .
Edo Queens, who narrowly lost the top spot by a point to Nasarawa Amazons at the conclusion of the 2021/2022 regular season is poised to clinch the top prize going by preparations , motivation by the state government and support by the home fans in Benin.
The Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and the University of Benin Sports Complex are the two venues with three matches scheduled daily .
Two games will be played simultaneously by 10am and 4pm respectively.
The hosting of the Nigeria Women Football League Super 6 is a pointer to the fact that Edo State is a sports hub and preferred destination for stakeholders as well as investors in the sports industry, with state of the art facilities .
No wonder , the state successively hosted the Aiteo Cup for male and female categories, the Betsy Obaseki pre-season women football tournament , the 20th National Sports Festival and now set to host the 2nd edition of the Super 6.
“We would have gotten two goals before the end of first half but my players could not convert their chances, but Heartland made use of theirs,” Eguma said.
He further attributed the loss to the poor state of the pitch, saying that his players could not pass the ball effectively due to the poor nature of the pitch.
Eguma said this in a post match interview with sports writers. However, he stressed that the technical crew will go back and work on the grey areas.
“ I commend Heartland, they won two zero, that is football, you don’t take chances,” he stated.
In his response, the chief coach of Heartland, Erasmus Onuh said the team will continue to improve in every match.
“ As I came, one of things I requested was to relocate the team from Orlu and the result has started coming.
I am under pressure but later I will explain that,” Onuh said.
By: Tonye Orabere
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