Sports
ITTF May Hammer Nigeria Over Absence At WYC
Nigeria may face the wrath of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) following the country’s absence from the 2023 World Youth Championships (WYC) in Slovenia.
Nigeria’s trio of Matthew Kuti, Muiz Adegoke and Matthew Fabunmi were listed among qualified players for the singles event at the WYC three months ago following their performance at the 2023 African Youth Championships held in Morocco earlier this year.
Nigeria’s participation at the African Youth Championships was made possible through ITTF Executive Vice President, Wahid Oshodi, and Vice President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Adesoji Tayo and friends of table tennis, who funded the trip to Morocco with assurance by the NTTF that government would refund and also sponsor the players to WYC.
Unfortunately the federation failed to get the funds from the ministry, hence the players were walked over in the singles and doubles events. Their absence from the championship may attract financial and ranking sanctions from the world body.
Angered by Nigeria’s continuous absence from its events, which most times altered their programme, an ITTF official, who pleaded anonymity, said: “This is very bad that it is happening in the WYC as only 32 entries and many players have not been able to play with the walkovers. It is a pity, but it frequently happens with African countries, especially Nigeria and nobody knows why they confirm participation, but don’t show up for the event.”
NTTF Secretary General, Dayo Abulude, explained that the lack of funds truncated the team’s participation, saying that several pleas to the Ministry failed to help the situation.
“It is the usual no fund syndrome that prevented the players from taking part in the WYC, as individuals helped the team to qualify through the continental tournament. All our budgets to the ministry are yet to be disbursed and funds borrowed for our participation are yet to be refunded. This is not encouraging for the players, and we hope things take shape for good in the New Year,” he added.
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
