Sports
Lagos Marathon Holds, April 10
The organisers of Access Bank Lagos City Marathon on Monday announced second week of April as the date for the 2021 edition.
The Project Consultant of the race, Bukola Olopade, in a statement in Lagos, said the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon had been moved from February 13 to April 10.
“On behalf of our Host City, Lagos, the Centre of Excellence, our Headline Sponsor, Access Bank and other partners and sponsors, we sincerely apologise for having to postpone our race from February 13 to April 10.
“This is because of the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, which has forced the cancellation or postponement of sporting events worldwide, especially mass participation events like marathons and road races.
“The Access Bank Lagos City Marathon organisers and sponsors had put machineries in place to go ahead with the race on February 13, especially all the COVID-19 protocols set by the World Athletics body.
“We also got the approval of all the government agencies, including the Lagos State Safety Commission, which approved an elite only race,” he said.
Olopade said the Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, had also approved February 13 for the race.
“But on second thought, as responsible corporate citizens, it was agreed that the race should be moved since most organisations are on lockdown till end of February.
“Also with the prediction that by March, we would be experiencing a downward trend in the number of infections and vaccine would be available.
“The Organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon are inundated with calls from Athletics Federations around the world and elite runners who wanted to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Lagos.
“Since the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has been approved as Olympic Games qualifier by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the World Athletics,” he said.
Olopade thanked federations and elite runners worldwide who had chosen the race to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo.
“Our new date of April 10 still falls within the IOC deadline as runners have till May 31 to qualify for the Olympic Games.
“However, the decision to accommodate 10km family and fun runners or not will be in the hands of the technical and medical personnel working with the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.
“We have seen the benefits of running that Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has revived in Lagos and Nigeria, especially the health benefits.
“The 10km race is for the people and as Project Consultant, I love to see thousands coming for our race but runners’ health is paramount,” he said.
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