Sports
Team Nigeria Hits Budapest Hope For Amusan’s Clearance
First batch of Nigerian athletes to the World Athletics Championships landed in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, amidst anxious wait by officials for the clearance of world record holder in the 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, by the Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU).
The athletics showpiece will commence on August 19 and end on 27 of this month.
The first group of Nigerian athletes jetted out from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos through a Turkish Airlines flight.
Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s (AFN) Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, confirmed to Tidesports source that virtually all the athletes based in Nigeria and in the United States left for Budapest on Tuesday to acclimatise to the weather and to put finishing touches to their preparations for the championships.
The first batch of athletes from Nigeria was accompanied by the duo of Coach Tony Osheku and Gabriel Okon. Also in the team are a team doctor and a physiotherapist.
“About 80 per cent of the athletes have left for Budapest, so that they can get adequate rest,” Onikeku stated. “We are hopeful of a good outing, not only in the relays, but also in other events.
“We are expecting surprises from every angle, just like Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume did at the Oregon World Championships. Our major task would be to get as many of the athletes to the finals and of course go for the medals,” he added.
One of the athletes, 400m runner, Opeyemi Deborah Oke, looks forward to a fruitful competition in her first World Championships.
“We have prepared very well and by the grace of God, we are looking forward to having a good outing,” Oke, a former junior athlete stated.
AFN President Tonobok Okowa, who is still in Lagos, stated yesterday that he was expecting good news to come from AIU in Amusan’s case.
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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