Sports
Royal Father Tasks OPS On Sports Dev
A traditional ruler in Rivers State, Eze Sylvanus Ogbueri has challenged the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to invest in the development of sports in the state.
The royal father who made the call in an interview with The Tide sports at his Umueze Palace in Omuma local government area at the weekend said if fully developed, sports would compete favourably with oil and gas in terms of economic advantage.
Eze Ogburi who is also a sports philanthropist noted that development of local sports like Water Polo, Swimming and abundant beaches scattered all over the state would help in talent discovery.
He lauded the state government for what he described as harvest of gold at the 17th National Sports Festival hosted by Rivers State. He attributed the feat to the commitment of the state governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi towards the development of sports in the state.
He urged investors to take advantage of the great potentials of sports in the state to develop that sector of the economy.
“It is high time we emulate the western world where billions of Dollars flow in from sports. We should begin to take advantage especially with the keen interest shown by the state government, he emphasised.
Eze Ogbueri decried the lackadaisical attitude of some local government administrations in the state on sports development, stressing that time has come for the third tier of government to look inward on how to develop local talents in sports.
According to him, by doing the youths would be properly engaged thereby reducing youths restiveness in the state.
“How many local government councils in the state have a mini-stadium where local tournaments are played? How many LGAs have well-equipped sports facilities to encourage youths participation in sports”, he queried.
Eze Ogbueri maintained that until governments and private investors see sports as an issue for partnership, the abundant sports talent in the state would not be developed.
Isaac Nwankwo
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor