Sports
Coach Attributes Victory In Baseball To Hard Work
The Head Coach of Team Rivers’ baseball, Saibu Adamsi, has attributed the gold medal won by his boys (players), in the just concluded National Youths Games (NYG) in Asaba, Delta State to hard work.
He said that for the past three months, his players had been training so hard for the youth games because they wanted the gold medal dearly.
Adamsi said this last Friday in an exclusive interview with Tidesports shortly after they secured gold medal in NYG in Asaba.
“ I want to thank God for the victory. First, I was a little bit disappointed with the umpire but when the right thing was done we carried the day.
“I was not perturbed even when we were down 2-1 because I know my players and their abilities.
“I know what we have been doing in our training so I was not worried.
In this game as a coach, you have to fight for your right. If not for my fight I would have lost the game,”Adamsi said.
He thanked Bayelsa and Delta states baseball coaches who assisted him to fight when the umpire wanted to rob him, adding that he is the happiest coach.
He appealed to the Rivers State Government to assist baseball in the state for the growth of the game.
“ I want the Rivers State Government to assist baseball to have a formidable team in the state, both male and female.
“Look at what happened to the female baseball team. They said that some of the players were not registered in the NYG but they went and played for the Bayelsa team and won a gold medal in baseball for Bayelsa.
“So I think with the support of the government, we are going to go far in the game and it will help the youth to shift their attention
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.