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Bayelsa United Emerge Champions of Gov. Diri Pre Season Tournament ……. Gov Diri Pledges Support For Sports Development

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Bayelsa United have emerged champions of the governor Douye Diri pre season Football tournament. The prosperity boys beat Bendel Insurance 7-6 on penalties to clinch the trophy and the prize money.
The Yenagoa based side piped Benin Arsenal 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate at the end of regulation time on Sunday at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa.
Loveday Saro gave Bayelsa United the lead on 28 minutes from Samuel Okon’s left footed cross as he scored to send the fans into celebration having missed a scoring opportunity to go ahead in the opening minutes.
Bendel Insurance responded immediately from Meyiwa Oritseweyinmi who meandered his way inside the danger zone to find the back of the net for the Benin Arsenals.
Earlier in the third place match, Akwa United beat Kwara United 4-2 on penalties after a barren draw in regulation time.
Champions Bayelsa United smiled home with #1.5 million naira, second placed Bendel Insurance got #1,000,000 naira while Akwa received #500.000 for finishing third.
Declaring the tournament closed, Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said his administration would continue to promote the development of sports.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo noted that the only way to engage the youths in the state was to invest in education and sports, stating that his administration is not worried about the energy channeled towards the sports sector.
While congratulating the participating teams for their show of professionalism throughout the tourney, he lauded Bayelsa United and coach Ladan Bosso for the brilliant outing in the tournament, pointing out that he is satisfied with the performance of the team.
According to him, the government would soon organize pre pre-season tournament for the female Bayelsa Queens before the commencement of the Nigeria Women Premier Football League NWFL this year.
He announced that the governor Douye Diri pre season tournament would become an annual competition that would prepare Bayelsa United ahead of every season describing Bayelsa as the rallying point for sports in Nigeria.
The deputy governor commended the organizers of the tournament for the smooth organization of the tourney, advising the teams to see the outcome a no victor, no vanquished situation.
In his remarks, Chairman Central Organizing Committee, Mr. Ono Akpe said he is confident that Bayelsa United would have a fruitful season in the NPFL, noting that the essence of the tournament has been achieved.
He explained that apart from preparing Bayelsa United for the new season, the competition has also exposed more local players to some NPFL teams and disclosed that three players scouted from the 2024 Prosperity Cup would be traveling to Turkey and two to Finland in the coming days to professional careers.
Mr Akpe who described Bayelsa as the home of grassroots football appreciated the duo of Senator Douye Diri and his Deputy senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo for giving sports premium attention.
He equally thanked the commissioner for Sports Development, Dr. Daniel Igali and the Local Organizing Committee for translating the vision of the governor.
Also, Bayelsa United coach Ladan Bosso said the tournament has helped him to know the readiness of his team as well as to know his preferred starting eleven.
He thanked the Bayelsa State government and the organizers for the laudable initiative to organize the tournament.
Bendel Insurance coach Monday Odigie in his reaction, noted that the tournament has given him the opportunity to assess his team, adding that they will improve on their weaknesses going forward.
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Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak

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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.

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Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again

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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.

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Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International

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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

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