Sports
‘NSSF, Vehicle For Discovery Of Talents’
The National President of the Nigerian School Sports Federation (NSSF), Mallam Ibrahim Muhammed, has said that the age cheat scandal that characterized sports development in the country would be addressed through competitive events organized by National School Sports Festival. Mallam Muhammed stated this at the opening ceremony of the 4th National Sports Festival tag Calabar 2011 taking place at the U.J.Esuene stadium the Cross River State capital with more than 21 States participating in 22 events.
According to the NSSF boss the golden era of Nigerian Sports was made possible with organised school sports which he said remains the vehicle for the discovery and nurturing of budding talents”.
He commended Nestle Nigeria PLC for the development of sports, especially for keeping faith with Secondary Schools championship and Adidas for identifying with Calabar 2011 and appeal to other corporate bodies to emulate their good gesture by promoting school sports.
Declaring the championship open, the Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, said the event would change the face of sports development in the country stressing that the objective of the National School Sports Festival is to nurture the young into adulthood for the betterment of the society.
Imoke urged the three tiers of government to encourage the National Schools Sport Festival as part of their agenda for the development of young talent for the future generation of Nigerian athletes.
He said it is part of the state agenda to promote sports and identify talent, noting that the Cross River State Government has selected some schools into six competitive schools to groom them into world class athletes
In his goodwill message, the Cross River State Commissioner for Education Prof. Offiong Offiong described sports as a way of life, adding that, the sports Festival is expected to bring the youths together, identify their talents and harness them to be groom future stars.
He said the comprehensive renewal programme of his ministry will ensure that necessary facilities for the development of talents are provided as well as promoting Inter-House Sporting activities.
Among the sporting events being competed for include Athletics, Handball, Swimming, Volley ball, Traditional Wrestling, Football, Badminton, Boxing Weightlifting, Chess Scrabble, Gymnastics, Judo, Wrestling, and Karate Tennis among others.
Riday Nwagbara, Calabar
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
