Sports
Hotel Pledges To Sponsor Sports Tournaments
The Art Hotel has promised to sponsor more teams and tournaments in Nigeria, Tidesports source reports.
The Art Hotel polo team are currently taking part in the Lagos Polo Tournament Open Cup, their first appearance in a polo tournament, with a newly assembled team made up of Team Leader Neku Edun of Nigeria, Sadiq Dantata from Nigeria, J.J Alba from Mexico, and Genaro Ringa from Argentina.
Managing Director, Art Hotel, Tunji Abdul, spoke about their plans for the community and their vision for the future.
“At the Art hotel, we believe that an active participation in our community is vital and as such we are delighted to have the opportunity to sponsor the Art Hotel Polo Team in the 2023 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament.
“At the Art Hotel, we not only look at “Art” in the traditional sense such as paintings and sculptures but also take the view that such visually stunning and competitive game as polo fits hand in glove with our vision of the differentiated arts and its extensive influence on culture in the widest sense both in Nigeria and abroad. We look forward to sponsoring teams and tournaments in the future,” Abdul said.
Team Leader Edun added, “It is our first time playing and at this level, but now, obviously, we want to win, and also the experience because it is important to learn from it and build on it for future events to come.
“We’re playing against teams that have been playing together for a long time, for this tournament, we are grateful to put the team together and getting used to each other and we hope to keep the team for future tournaments.”
The Art Hotel team lost to Trojan Hawk in their first game last Saturday and are now aiming to return with a win against their next opponents STC Shoreline when they meet tomorrow.
“We have been trying horses, we have done one team practice together, we have got horses given to us by different people, which we are really grateful for, and after this conference, we are going to watch our last video and know where we made mistakes because in the last game, we started off beating them but then they came around with more horsepower. We need to be better about anticipating and not quitting,” Edun said.
Alba and Ringa thanked Art Hotel and Nigerians for their hospitality, saying they felt very welcome in the nation and are loving the food.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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