Sports
Bello Dreams ITTF Championship Title
Two-Time regional champion, Fatimo Bello, has said she hopes to do well at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.
The African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) awarded the regional qualification, African Club Championships, and African Cup events to Nigeria, which is fixed for Lagos between May 19 and 28.
Speaking to The Tidesports source on Wednesday, Bello, who won the female category of the three-day trials organised by the National Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), said she had been training hard for the championships even before the trial began, adding that she hopes to pull a surprise at the ITTF World Championships.
“Even before we were called for the trials by the NTTF, I had been training hard for the ITTF events. From the trials I won the Women Singles event and got picked for ITTF championship.
“I believe I am going to give my best, while hoping to spring a surprise in Lagos when the events begin. And who says I cannot win it by God’s grace because I believe there is nothing impossible in the game of table tennis,” she said.
Meanwhile, hosts, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Togo, Niger Republic and Senegal have been confirmed for the Western Region qualifiers for the 2023 ITTF World Championships taking place in Lagos from May 19 to 21.
Egypt dominated the Northern Region qualifiers held in Algeria, while Mauritius ruled at the Eastern Region qualifiers hosted by Ethiopia.
The 2022 World Championships will be the second time Africa will be hosting the ITTF World Championships, as the city of Durban in South Africa was awarded the hosting right in 2020 at the ITTF AGM in 2020.
Speaking on the championship, the Secretary General of the Western Region, Prof. Germain Karou, said the huge turnout from the teams was based on the quality of organisation coupled with the quality of players expected at the three-day tournament.
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.