Sports
South Africa’s Performance Excites Coach
South Africa coach Gordon Igesund said his team has made “huge strides” during the Africa Cup of Nations and bemoaned the lottery of penalties after their quarter-final defeat against Mali.
Three of his players missed from the spot in the Durban shoot-out.
Igesund, who has been in charge for seven months, said: “We lost with pride, dignity and passion.
“Hurting both emotionally and physically. We gave everything. We will pick ourselves up and come back stronger”
“We have proven that we can match anybody. It’s just a pity with penalties – it’s the luck of the draw.”
He added: “If I can say that maybe we have made huge strides, we got better and better as the tournament went on.”
South Africa now turn their attentions to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They have drawn their opening two qualifiers and play Central African Republic next month.
Midfielder Dean Furman, who plays for Oldham, impressed with several positive displays but missed one of South Africa’s three penalties
He said that: “Hurting both emotionally and physically. We gave everything out there. We will pick ourselves up and come back stronger. An experience I will never forget.”
Igesund had been set a target by the South African Football Association of reaching at least the semi-finals.
But despite falling short of that goal, the coach – who has won four Premier Soccer League titles with four different clubs in South Africa – sees a bright future for his young side.
“They came here and matches one of the best teams on the continent and took them to penalties,” Igesund said. “Tonight luck was on Mali’s side. They took their penalty kicks well.
“We played well but we didn’t score the goals, that is unfortunate. We played a team ranked third in Africa and we matched them and dominated them. This team has come a long way not only the way they play but also off the field.”
Bafana Bafana captain Bongani Khumalo said: “We are out of the tournament right now but there are many positives. We have to take what we can and move forward from this experience.”
The performances of the national team did not go unrecognised by government ministers.
Dr Zweli Mkhize, the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, said: “We are proud of you. You displayed great sportsmanship. With your excellent performance you have restored the dignity of Bafana Bafana and of the country.
“You did better than many countries that were in this tournament. Do not let this setback put you down, you went down fighting which is what the people wanted to see.”
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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