Sports
Delta Wins Edo Invitational Swimming Tourney
Delta State emerged champions of the First Edo State Invitational Swimming Championship concluded at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin-City at the weekend, bagging 12 gold, 8 silver, and 7 bronze medals.
YY Swimming Club finished second with 7 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze medals, while host Edo came in third with 4 gold medals, 9 silver medals, and 6 bronze medals.
Jimi Oshinowo Swimming Club, Bayelsa, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers, Aqua Swimming Club, and Kano State finished 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, respectively.
In some of the events decided, Oka Dorcas of YY Swimming Club of Lagos won the 200m Individual Medley (women) in a time of 2:45.94, Peremoboere Kimiakigha of Edo clocked 2:53.73 to place second, while Gift Obodo of Bayelsa State finished third in a time of 3:15.63.
In the men’s category, Shedrack Simon of YY Swimming Club of Lagos won in a time of 2:30.48, Dino Ebarakumo of Rivers State came second in a time of 2:32.31, and Forcados Kingsley of Edo came third in a time of 2:34.35. In the boys 50-meter freestyle developmental category, Aidan Dumeje of Delta came first in a tiwme of 26.23 seconds, Tissa Precious of Edo came second in a time of 27.06 seconds, and Olise Endurance of Delta came third in a time of 27.76 seconds.In the 50m breaststroke women, Dorcas Oka (YY Academy) won after finishing in a time of 34:60, while Peremoboere Kimiakigha (Edo) came in second in a time of 37.24sec. Adeju Favour (Aqua Sports) finished third in a time of 38.78sec. The Chairman, Edo State Aquatic Association, Clement Minabowan, expressed joy over the success of the event and thanked the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, for giving him and his board members the privilege to serve the state once again.
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