Sports
‘Our Goal Is To Push Nigerian Golfers Internationally’
Samson Lawal, Executive Director, Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of Nigeria, says the goal of the association is to push golf players in the country internationally.
The PGA boss spoke with newsmen in Lagos during an inspection visit to Nigeria by Martin Westphalia of PGAs of Europe.
Tidesports source learnt that Westphalia was in the country on the possibility of affiliating Nigeria PGA to the PGAs of Europe.
“The inspection visit is to fulfill the last of the conditions for full membership of the PGAs of Europe.
“Moreso, this will enable our members to benefit from all the opportunities that are available to members of PGAs of Europe,” Lawal said.
Also speaking at the briefing, Westphalia, Director of Golf Development PGAs of Europe, said that Nigerian has great potential.
“What is being done here today is history in the making, the results may not be immediately, it might take 10 to 15 years but PGA Nigeria will be better for it.
“ I will be inspecting the facilities here to see, I hope that it goes well.
“ I believe that this is going to be a good experience for me also, learning and understanding how things work in this county,” he said.
He urged the PGA to align itself with the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF) in order to groom young talents and also help them focus on education.
“ I believe so much in the power of education so we must teach these young ones early enough to be educated and to understand golf.
“They need to be educated not just about golf but whatever area of specialisation,” Westphalia said.
Tidesports also report reports that the Ikoyi Club in Lagos and IBB Golf Course in Abuja were among facilities to be inspected.
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