Sports
NSSF 2013: Team Rivers Win Gold Medal In Weightlifting, Badminton
Team Rivers has discovered five potential weightlifters at the on-going 5th National Schools Sports festival, in Port Harcourt.
The assistant coach of Rivers State Weightlifting Association, Reginald Briggs, disclosed this yesterday in an interview with Tidesports immediately after the lifting events held at the Alfred Diette-Spiff sports venue.
He said that the young potentials discovered at the festival would represent the state at the forthcoming 19th National Sports Festival scheduled to hold next year in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
“We have discovered about five talents who are very young and good potential. If they are well groomed they would go places and I am sure to use them in the forthcoming 19t NSF next year,” he said.
He further disclosed that one of the potentials, Bright Otu-Brown, won three gold medal in her 58th Weight category.
Speaking with Tidesports, Bright Otu-Brown attributed her success to hard work and passion for the sport and promised to excel in future competitions.
Otu-Brown who is a student of Oroworokwo Community Secondary School, maintained that she would do her best to ensure that “Team Rivers” is represented during the 19th National Sports Fiesta next year, saying that, she would start early preparation for the task ahead as to keep fit for the competition.
In badminton boys single event for Primary School level, Ogun State won gold and silver, while Akwa Ibom State won two bronze medals at stake for the third position.
Also, in girls single, Primary school level, Ogun State won gold medal, Cross River took silver while Akwa Ibom and Delta States won the bronze, respectively.
In secondary category, girls singles, Rivers state won gold and silver medals while in the girls double, Rivers State won gold while Niger State and Akwa-Ibom states clinched silver and bronze, respectively, to bag the second and third, positions.
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.
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