Sports
Africa Armwrestling Championships:Team Nigeria Emerges Second
Team Nigeria Armwrestlers emerged second on the medals table at the just concluded 9th Africa Armwrestling Championships in Accra, Ghana.
Tidesports source reports that they clinched six gold, six silver and six bronze behind Ghana the host country which came first.
Ghana came first with 31 gold, 32 silver and 25 bronze while Mali came third.
The competition which started on July 25 ended at weekend at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Olatunji Jackson, president, Nigeria Armwrestling Federation told newsmen on telephone from Accra yesterday that the federation was impressed with the team’s performance.
Jackson said that the competition was keenly competed one by the African nation and every participant was poised to win.
“I must commend our athletes, they did very well I must say but, of course, there are still room for improvement.
“The Nigerian team this time around did a lot better especially as the African Championship was staged outside Nigeria.
“The team’s head coach, Femi Akinsanya concentrated so much on athletes fitness and it paid off here in Accra especially against tough opponents from Ghana and Mali.
“We never knew we were going to beat Mali to the second position, the Nigerian athletes gave their all and went to the table to win.
“Our gold medalist in the women’s 70kg class, Victoria Johnson, missed the first day of event where the left hand challenge was held and some athletes who were present won medals.
“ She came in on the final day of the competition and just two hours into the competition, she emerged a gold medalist.
“It will interest you that, it was her gold medal that made the difference and move us to second position in the continental championship that had all the best athletes from Africa.
“Johnson won all her fights. It was wild jubilation here for team Nigeria, “ he said.
Jackson added that with the results in Ghana, the federation has resolved to start preparations for the next edition of the championship in Bamako, Mali.
“” We know we have to up our game and one of the plans to emerge victorious in Mali is the training challenge competition partnership we just signed with the Cameroon Armwrestling Federation here in Ghana.
“The partnership will see Nigeria travel to Cameroon for training and mini tournament and vice visa.
“In all these, our main concern is funding, the board members have been spending personal funds, which of course is not enough,” he said
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