Sports
Uniport Can Represent Nigeria At Olympics -Vice Chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport), Prof. Joseph Ajienka, has said that the victorious Uniport team at the just concluded West Africa University Games (WAUG) can represent Nigeria at the London Olympics.
The V-C said this at a reception organised for the victorious team last week in Choba community where the university is located.
Ajienka added that with the abundant potential and talent in the team, it could represent the country creditably at international tourneys.
Team Uniport topped the medals table at the just concluded 13th WAUG, hosted by the University of Ilorin in Kwara.
Team Uniport won the tournament with a total of 93 medals, made up of 48 Gold, 26 Silver and 19 Bronze.
The University of Benin came a distant second with a total of nine Gold, five Silver, and nine Bronze medals, while the Benson Idahosa University also in Benin, came third with eight Gold, seven Silver, and four Bronze medals.
He debunked the rumour that the university hired professional athletes to help the institution excel in the tournament.
Ajienka maintained that the Uniport team was made up of bona fide students of the university, who were able to combine education with sport activities.
“These are purely hardworking students who have won the three editions of the competition successively. “
The vice chancellor revealed that the university had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Sports Commission to make the university an Olympic centre.
“We are waiting for the African Olympic Committee to approve this request. “
Speaking at the event, Ms Ifiezibe Gagbe, who won a total of nine gold medals in swimming to emerge the most valuable athlete at the competition, urged government to provide the enabling environment for swimmers to excel.
Gagbe, a Bayelsa State indigene and a 300-level student of the Department of Physical and Health Education, said government could support students by ensuring that both their academic work and sport run concurrently.
“Normally when we go to competitions, we camp just two weeks before competitions; and I want government to keep us in camp like it does for footballers.
“Let government look at every other sport like that. Footballers can win just one gold medal, but swimming can give 30, 40 gold medals.
“Combining sports and education is very hard; it’s because of the love that I have for sports, if not I would have stopped it because sometimes after training, when you come back, to read is a problem because of fatigue; your body becomes weak because of the need for sleep.”
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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