Sports
Under-Performing Sunshine Flickers Blame Astro Turf
The performance of Sunshine Flickers at the IEI National Hockey League finals was hampered by their unfamiliarity with the astro turf, the team’s assistant coach Biodun Akinyemi has said.
The inaugural edition of the league which held on the astro turfs of the Abuja National Stadium’s Hockey Complex was concluded at the weekend.
The finals featured six teams/clubs in the women pool, after the Bayelsa Flickers and Lagos state failed to turn up, and eight clubs in the men’s category.
The Akure-based Sunshine Flickers garnered only three points from five matches after three draws and two losses, scoring two goals and conceding six to place seventh and out of title contention.
Akinyemi blamed his team’s performance on the fact that his players were unfamiliar with the astro-turf.
“We came third at the Southern Conference held in Lagos some weeks ago, and that shows that we are good too.
“But we played then on a synthetic turf, and over here we are playing on an astro-turf, which we are unfamiliar with,’’ he told newsmen.
Akinyemi said that apart from the turf, his players had been used to playing on hard ground and could not have mastered the use of the astro-turf in just a few days.
“This is a faster pitch than what we have been used to, and we were affected by the pitch.
“We couldn’t have done better than this, because we couldn’t prepare for this finals as we would have loved to, due to lack of funds,’’ he said.
The coach said his team could not get the needed funds to prepare and travel for the finals in Abuja.
“We didn’t get the money we asked for, and we managed from the little we have left over from the money used in going for the Lagos competition,’’ he said.
Akinyemi, however, said his team was not giving up the fight for now.
“It is normal that not all teams that have come here will win all their matches, but I am confident that we will get better because we are good and we have been improving with each game.
“I can assure you that there will be changes in our subsequent outings we want to strive to do better and avoid relegation. I am positive about that because we can do it,’’ he said.
Two of the clubs in the men’s pool of the IEI National Premier Hockey League were relegated to the lower league at the end of the finals.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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