Sports
AFN Targets New Talents As Okowa Awards Scholarships
Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President, Tonobok Okowa, says the sixth National Youth Games holding in Ilorin will serve as fresh talent recruitment ground for the federation.
Defending champions, Team Delta, arrived Ilorin with a contingent of over 750 athletes and officials.
Okowa, who is the chairman of Delta State Sport’s Commission, told Newsmen that the athletes were ready to defend their title.
A praise and worship session was held for the team on Saturday evening at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, where the Secretary to the state government, Patrick Ukah, who represented Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, urged the athletes to do everything possible to defend their title.
He said: “As soon as athletics event starts, I will shift my attention to track and field because the AFN will use the National Youth Games to recruit athletes who will step into the shoes of some ageing ones. As for Team Delta, we have worked very hard for these games, and I am sure we will emerge victorious again. The state government has given us the support we need, and we are very grateful to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the entire executive council.”
Okowa revealed that 11 of the young athletes discovered at the 2019 edition of the National Youth Games were given academic scholarship by the state government to combine their education with sports in the United States last year, adding that four others have just joined them.
He said, “when we discover young athletes, we keep them and nurture them,” Okowa stated.
Meanwhile, organisers of the youth games have assured participants of a hitch-free event, saying the minor hitches recorded on the opening day have been taken care of.
Team Edo contingent, yesterday, complained that they were left outside the hostels provided for the teams, adding that there were no official to attend to them.
Team Edo leader, Sabina Amiemenoghena Chikere, said she had to make alternative private hostel accommodation for the women athletes and questioned why the LOC will fix a tournament of this magnitude when students of the University of Ilorin were still writing their examinations.
However, an official of the LOC, who pleaded anonymity, said that the hiccup experienced by Edo is a minute problem that has been sorted out, adding that such problems usually occur on arrival days in multi-sport events.
“Most schools are in session. It makes hostel accommodation for many states difficult. But we have moved the affected states to polytechnic hostels around the state capital. Edo is not the only state affected”, he said.
“We are satisfied with the level of preparedness of University of Ilorin ahead of the competition and members of the Sports Directors’ Forum have also expressed their delight at the arrangements in place for the games.”
Also, the LOC has announced a slight adjustment to the time line of the competition with the opening ceremony initially scheduled for Wednesday now moved to Thursday.
Heartland Technical Manager, Emmanuel Amuneke has praised his players for not losing focus at the crucial moment in Sunday’s 2-1 home win over Shooting Stars in a NPFL Matchday 24 fixture in Owerri.
The Naze Millionaires defeated the Oluyole Warriors through Chukwuma Agor and John Bassey goals in the 31st and 88th minutes with Mustapha Adam’s 80th minute spot kick a mere consolation for the visitors.
Amuneke while speaking to journalists shortly after the encounter, said his boys showed the zeal and determination to seal the three points and that despite the shenanigans of the centre referee, Kolawole Emmanuel, the boys were never troubled.l
“We were eager to get the three points and we were aware Shooting Stars are a good side and won’t allow us to have our way easily,” Amuneke told journalists in Owerri.
“We planned for them and almost throughout the entire game, they were never a threat to our team. We were able to control the game from the beginning. It was unfortunate how the game ended. We were just focussed on the three points and we are thrilled we got it. It was a very good game from both sides but we subjected them to constant pressure almost throughout the game.”
While he was asked if he believed his boys could finish the season impressively, Amuneke was evasive but noted that he and his players would continue to work harder.
“Everything in line is possible but we know that nothing happens without hard work. We will continue to work harder and continue to see how we can grow as a team. We have a lot of young players in the team. Some of them just got their topflight breakthrough.
“We didn’t lose focus at the time of the controversies. We continued to do the same thing we have been doing and taking the game to them.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, turned the sod of the new Olympic-standard 25,000-capacity Bayelsa Stadium project at Igbogene, Yenagoa, as part of the activities marking the fifth anniversary of the Senator Douye Diri administration.
The former Nigerian leader performed the ground-breaking ceremony as Governor Diri restated his appeal to the federal government, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), oil firms operating in the state and the private sector to join hands with his administration to develop sporting talents.
The Federal Government through the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) equally thumped up Governor Diri for initiating the project.
Dr. Jonathan expressed delight over the project, saying as a Bayelsan, he was duty bound to celebrate with the state government for the progress so far achieved.
He lauded Diri’s developmental strides, urging him not to rest on his laurels and that the contractor and the state government should ensure the project met the highest standards.
Jonathan also called on the state and federal governments to set up a sports fund to cater for sportsmen after their active days and encourage younger ones to be involved in sports.
He said: “This is my state and I have to celebrate with the government for the progress so far made. This is an iconic project that will develop the state. Please do not rest on your laurels as we want this stadium to meet the best standards.
“I am happy with the presence of relevant federal government officials. I hope they will guide the state well and support where necessary.
“As a country, we must have a fund to care for sportsmen. The federal and state government can think about it so that the younger generation will be interested in sports.
“I am happy that you gave a target of 24 months and I hope that by that time I will escort President Tinubu to Bayelsa to inaugurate it.”
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has condoled the family of former Nigeria international midfielder, Ayo Ogunlana, who died in Kaduna on Friday after observing his early-morning walk.
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, showered tributes on the departed midfield pearl, who was a star attraction during a number of important Nigeria FA Cup battles in the 1980s and held sway in the middle for the Super Eagles in the late 1980s, and at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Algeria.
“We are very sad to learn of the sudden passing of Ayo Ogunlana, only a couple of weeks after the demise of another former Eagle, Moses Effiong (a member of the 1980 AFCON-winning Green Eagles squad, in far-away USA). Ogunlana was a great midfielder who made playing football look so easy with his majestic touches and turns, and his magnificent free-kicks.
“We pray that the Almighty will grant both of them eternal rest and grant the families they have left behind the fortitude to bear the losses.”
Ogunlana was magisterial in the midfield as Nigeria overhauled Guinea and Zimbabwe to qualify for the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations, and was imperial against Cameroon in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Ibadan that the Super Eagles won with an emphatic 2-0. He also played in the 1990 ECOWAS Cup competition that Nigeria hosted in Kaduna.
