Sports
CAA President Task African Athletes To Be Mentally Prepared
President of African Athletics Confederation (CAA), Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, has said that athletes from the continent must be prepared mentally to achieve good results at major competitions like the World Championships and Olympic Games.
The Camerounian, who became CAA president in 2003 when his predecessor, Lamine Diack, was elected president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), told Tidesports at the Marriott Hotel, Budapest, on Tuesday that for an athlete to achieve major success, he or she must be mentally prepared.
“I watched what the American sprinter, Sha’Carri Richardson, did in the women’s 100m final on Monday night. It takes mental preparation for an athlete to achieve such great feat in athletics.
“That is what I mean by mental preparation. We need to take this message to all African countries,” he stated. Against all expectations, Richardson showed up in style to snatch the gold medal in the 100m women’s final on Monday night, as she stopped the clock in a championship record time of 10.65 seconds, taking 0.02 seconds off Fraser-Pryce’s time set last year in Oregon.
It was an iconic showdown that denied the Jamaicans the kind of golden finish they had envisaged. In the last decade, Jamaican athletes have won four titles in six editions of the World Championships, including a medal sweep last year in Oregon.
They were gunning for a fifth here in Budapest, but were stopped by the new sheriff in town, Richardson, who, ironically, nearly crashed out in the semifinals race.
Kalkaba also tasked governments in various African countries to invest more in athletics the same way they pump funds into football.
“Our governments back home must stop thinking about football alone. They have to invest in athletics the same way they pump money onto football. The corporate bodies must also key in by helping the various athletics federations across Africa in preparing athletes for major competitions. They should not leave everything to the government alone. I know that corruption is one of the key issues in our continent, but there are good people and corporate bodies that can help athletics to grow,” Kalkaba told Tidesports source.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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