Sports
Namibia’s Coach Urges Support For Falcon’s Coach
Chief Coach of Namibia’s senior women football team, Jacqueline Shipanga, has called for support for her Nigerian counterpart, Eucharia Uche, advising that Uche should be left in-charge of the Nigerian team.
Shipanga whose team lost 0-7 to the Super Falcons in a 2012 Olympic Games qualifier on April 3 in Abuja, last weekend said that Uche deserved respect.
“We of the female stock are not asking our male counterparts for any favour but what we deserve. Don’t give us anything on a platter of gold.
“We have come a long way and we deserve some respects. Uche in her case has also come a long way and should get that respect from Nigerians,” she said.
Shipanga spoke against the background of calls for more technical support for Uche and complaints raised about the team’s performance against Namibia.
The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has since about three weeks ago drafted German coach Thomas Obliers to the team, although he did not sit on the team’s bench against Namibia.
“Uche has done a lot for the Falcons. She played for the team for many years and won titles and now she has coached the team and also won honours.
“She won the African Women Championship (AWC) title and the World Cup ticket, the first time by any woman coach.
“So, why not give her the same chance you will give her male counterparts.
“It is not the same thing you do to our male counterparts, and it is clear Uche is as good and deserving of respect like any other male coach anywhere,” Shipanga said.
The Brave Warriors coach who has handled some Namibian clubsides before joining the national team said replacing Uche as the Falcons technical chief would be disastrous for Nigeria.
“Uche is a very good coach from what I can see and replacing her will not only be counter-productive but also going to be really unfair.
“It will not be good for Nigeria in the long run,” she said.
Shipanga who is also a former player and a FIFA instructor for women football and grassroots development, said that Nigerians should rather encourage Uche to further develop her coaching abilities.
“She only needs encouragement from Nigerians to be able to advance in coaching and do better than she is doing now,” she said.
Uche had faced constant criticisms, regarding her coaching capabilities since she took charge of the team in 2009, and was always under fire even when her team was winning.
The Falcons’ inability to score more than a goal in the second half after putting in six goals in the first half of the 7-0 win over Namibia on Sunday, also raised questions about Uche’s ability.
However, the NFA recently drafted Obliers, coach of German league clubside SC 07 Bad Neuenahr, to the team as a response to the calls, although his position in the team has not been made public.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.