Sports
Rangers Showed Character In Remo Defeat – Coach
Remo Stars coach, Daniel Ogunmodede, has rued his team’s 2-1 defeat against reigning champions Rangers International on match-day 24 of the 2024/25 Nigeria Premier Football League, noting that their hosts fought like a relegation-threatened team,
Rangers halted the Sky Blue Stars’ eight-game unbeaten run as well as six-game winning streak at the Cathedral on Sunday, thanks to goals from Saviour Isaac and Kingsley Maduforo.
Having lost the first leg 1-0 in Ikenne, Sunday’s win was more like taking their pound of flesh from Remo and the result sent the champions up to third in the table with 38 points.
Despite the defeat, Remo Stars still hold their eight-point gap at the top of the table but Ogunmodede feels the defeat was avoidable.
“It was a good game and I am happy we gave the spectators a good reason to come watch the match,” Ogunmodede said via 54footballX.
“Rangers had to fight for their life. They are the current champions and imagine displacing them. They fought so hard like a team battling relegation.
“We had our opportunities but didn’t take them. Rangers scored in the first half from a brilliant free-kick by Isaac Saviour. Then, just as we were starting to get back into the match in the second half, they scored their second goal, which boosted their confidence and helped them secure the win.
“We came here hoping for a win, but unfortunately, luck wasn’t on our side, and we lost.”
His Rangers counterpart, Fidelis Ilechukwu insisted that his team were at their best defensively despite being ravaged by injuries.
“Remo stars, technically, tactically, attacking mentality were better than us in the game but we were better defensively and that is why I decided to go on counter and get the goals,” Ilechukwu said.
“We are happy with the three points. I knew it was going to be a tough game against the league leaders, the best team in Nigeria at the moment, so beating them and ending their unbeaten run, beating my friend, the assistant coach of the Super Eagles, is a big deal.
“We know ourselves already, I told them how important the game was. Remo Stars were on 48 points and we were on 35 points before the game. I told the players that winning this game will help us prove to ourselves, not to anyone else, that we can survive despite our injuries,” he added.
Remo Stars will hope to keep up their lead at the top when they return home to face Kwara United at home in a midweek game today.
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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