Sports
MMA Moves To Curb Crime In Rivers
In a bid to curb crime in the society, veteran martial artist, Dr Ebere Bernard, has initiated a Mixed Martial Arts tournament in Rivers State aimed at diverting the attention of the youths from cultism, kidnapping and other related vices.
Bernard, who is the Director, Youths Development, Nigerian Mixed Martial Arts Federation, in an interview with Tidesports source said that on the second day of the international amateur and professional fighters tournament in Ahoada main town, Rivers State, explained that the tournament had a target of 500 youths from rural areas.
“What we are doing now is to go to the local communities, because if you look at almost all the local communities in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, you see that youths are indulging in different kinds of vices: cultism, kidnapping, militancy and others.
“In the next two or three years, I intend to bring as many as 500 youths into Mixed Martial Arts, the campaign is not only in Nigeria, we are also touring round other countries to work with the youths,” he stated.
The organiser noted that scholarship and entrepreneurship were also prepared for the youths who wished to further their studies or start small businesses.
“Africa is full of talents and we know we can still produce many more fighters like Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngano, but for you to be able to find fighters, you need to go to the grassroots, he said.
Speaking at the event, D’Juan Owens, popularly known as Dirty South, an American kickboxing champion, said he came to Nigeria to train young fighters to master mixed martial arts, especially on grappling, a technique that helps fighters tackle their opponents on the ground) in order to give the young fighters a competitive advantage globally.
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.