Sports
‘Sports Can Fund Part Of Nigeria’s Budget’
The Executive Director of the D’elite Sports Investment Company, Mr John Tersoo, has said that Nigeria could make 40 per cent of its budget through sports, if the sector was properly managed.
In a briefing to mark the commencement of the 2013 Soccer Talent Hunt of the company in Ilorin, Tersoo noted that sports development was a good business that a country could depend on to better its socio-economic status.
Tersoo, however, blamed the poor nature of sports development in the country on the bastardisation of the system and poor management.
“We believe Nigeria is blessed with a lot of soccer talents that could be groomed to become the likes of Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and the likes.
“Nigeria can make 40 per cent of its national budget through sports, especially football, like it is being done in Brazil,” the company executive said.
He hailed the preparation of the Ilorin Centre for the trials, despite “the fact that Ilorin was not initially one of our scheduled Centres”.
He explained that the trial would be based on merit and lamented how some talented players were not given opportunity because of their poor backgrounds.
Also speaking, Sergio Daniel, the company’s Sports Director, said that the trials were meant to pick the best talents from Nigeria and link them up with various European clubs.
“We have a lot of connections, programmes and a lot of things for the kids. We wish to make a lot of Kanus, a lot of Okochas and the like from the kids,” he said.
Daniel, a Portuguese, who claimed to be a former coach with Benfica FC of Portugal, said the talent hunt was a long-term project that the company was not expecting any profit from now, but in the future.
He added that Nigeria could still make great footballers like Kanu and Okocha, if everybody was given opportunity to showcase his or her talent, without fear or favour.
He explained that they have now included Ilorin in their schedule because three talents from Ilorin were discovered at the Abuja Centre.
“Ilorin is very nice, peaceful and friendly, with a bunch of talents. Ilorin is made of good talents in football.
“In Abuja, three people from Ilorin were already picked there. So, Ilorin is believed to be a base of success,” the Sports Director said.
He, however, added that the final trial for all those selected from the various centres would hold in Abuja, where the best of the best would be selected and sponsored abroad by the company.
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