Sports
Debutants Win Milo Basketball Championship
Debutants St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Nyiman, Makurdi, Benue, have won the 12th Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship.
Their coach, Spencer Chile, said after the final game that ended 76-63 on Saturday, that he felt fulfilled having defeated two-time champions, Ahmadiyya College, Kano.
“We came with the aim of winning the competition, because this is our first appearance.
“I feel very happy and fulfilled winning this competition because for over 16 years of my career as a coach, I have never won any national championship”.
Chile extolled Nestle Plc for sustaining the sponsorship of the only major secondary school championships in the country.
“Nestle Milo may not understand the kind of thing they are doing to better the lives of the Nigerian youth,” he said.
Bakki Gilbert, St. Joseph’s Secondary School captain, also told Tidesports source that he felt happy seeing his team winning the competition in their first appearance.
“I pray I make a good career out of basketball as I am nurturing the ambition of playing for the NBA in the US,” he said.
Coach Shuiabu Maitama of Ahmadiyya College, Kano told newsmen that he was happy that his team placed second.
He said “I thank God for every thing because it is not easy placing second moreso when my boys could not match the Benue boys physically”.
He, however, said that the match officials were unfair but that he has had a good experience with this year’s tournament.
International School UNILAG, Lagos, placed third in the boys’ category after defeating St. Augustine’s Seminary Ezzamgbo, Ebonyi 39-29.
In the girls’ category, defending champions Asaba Girls’ Grammar School (Senior), Delta, retained their title by defeating Dalex Royal International School, Ilorin, Kwara, 38-9.
They did not lose any match to any school from the preliminaries to the final.
The third place in the girls’ category was won by Queen Amina College, Kaduna which beat Government Girls’ Secondary School, Yola, Adamawa, 30-19.
Queen Amina has now recorded its fourth victory in their four appearances in the competition.
The winner, second and third placed schools in both categories received cash prizes of N150,000, N120,000 and N100,000 respectively with a trophy each.
The most valuable player in the girls’ category was won by Ndidi Nwakanma from Asaba Girls’ Grammar School, while Ogwuche John won it in the boys’ category.
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
