Sports
Gombe Govt To Revive School Sports Festival
The Gombe State Government says it is set to revive school sports festival as a tool towards fostering peace and unity while discovering young athletes for the state and the country.
The Executive Chairman, Gombe State Sport Commission, Mr Hamza Soye made this disclosure when members of the state’s chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) paid him a courtesy visit in Gombe, yesterday.
According to Soye, the event will also be used to curb the menace of drug abuse by the youth while also fostering peace and unity that will galvanise more developments for the state.
He stated that the event which was last held in 2001 had been captured in the 2020 budget adding “we had wanted to do it before the National Sports Festival in Edo but for time constraint.
“We have taken it as a challenge and included it in the 2020 budget and at any time we do it after the National Sports Festival it is still right.
“We are committed to grassroots sports development.
“We are not just going to organise sports festival only but also school sports competitions to ensure that we discover more talents that will represent the state and the nation at large.
“Since the focus of this administration is the people, and the youth being the future, we are going to revive sports festival to discover talents and professionalise their talents for them so that talents are not wasted.
“We are passionate about this because most athletes that performed in years past were products of school sports festivals and competitions.
“We will support our young minds to realise their potential in sports,’’ he said.
The executive chairman hinted that the reward system for the youth who make the state proud would be reviewed to ensure “those who win gold or medals for the state are encouraged through special recommendation for jobs’’.
He said that the event when started would draw the interests of the youth away from drugs that presently threaten their health and potential, adding “when sports engage you, nothing else will matter.’’
He also hinted that sports development in the state would be comprehensive and not just on football, stressing that such will allow the commission to discover varieties of athletes.
He decried that private stakeholders had always seen sports funding as an ‘exclusive preserve of government or social services’.
“This should not be the case. Well-meaning Nigerians must support the Federal Government and states in that regard.’’
On the level of preparation for the National Sports Festival in Edo, Soye said, “we are doing everything possible to prepare the team and very soon we will embark on close camping to monitor the team.
“With all we are doing and the high level of preparations and the team spirit we are going to do well in Edo and make the state proud again.’’
Earlier, the state’s SWAN Chairman, Mr Haliru Teli commended the state government for its interest in reviving grassroots sports, stressing that such was needed to raise more athletes to address the dearth of athletes in the country.
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