Sports
Okpekpe Road Race: Organisers Expect More
Expectations are high as the 10th edition of the Okpekpe international 10km road race marks 30 days before the start of the first World Athletics label road race in West Africa.
Organisers of the historic race hinted that a lot of programmes have been lined up for the 10th anniversary of the first race to be internationally recognised and the first to have its race course marked by a World Athletics certified course measurer.
”We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the race that opened the door to others in Nigeria to get World Athletics recognition,” the Media and Activation Director of the race, Dare Esan, said.
He explained that this year’s race will see the assemblage of world class athletes who want to follow in the footsteps of some Okpekpe race champions who have gone on to carve indelible niches for themselves at the World Championships and World road running championships.
“We are also optimistic the race will produce its first sub-28 minutes runner as we have confirmed Daniel Ebenyo, the defending men’s 10km race winner and World Athletics Championships and World Road Running Championships silver medalist for the event.
”Ebenyo set a new 28:28 course record last year and the certainly much improved 28 year old is coming back to not only become the first man to successfully defend an Okpekpe race but also the first to run sub-28 minutes over the distance,” Esan added.
Esan also revealed everything is almost ready for another world class delivery of the only gold label 10km road race in Nigeria, adding the volunteers who have always worked to make the race the resounding success it has been since the first edition as a label race in 2015, are at the ready.
”We are going to be making use of undergraduates from both the Edo State University in Uzauire and the Auchi Polytechnic in Auchi as volunteers with most of them drawn from relevant departments so that they can practical experience of what they have been taught. We started this programmed last year and it was a huge success.”
This year’s race will hold on Saturday May 25 in Okpekpe in Edo State.
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