Sports
Student Squanders School Fee Celebrating Real Victory
A Real Madrid F.C. fan in
Abakaliki, Ebonyi State at the weekend squandered his school fee while celebrating the team’s victory over Barcelona F.C.
Real beat Barcelona 2-1 in an away match in the Spanish La Liga, competition to earn a seven-point lead over the latter.
The victory has the prospect of ending Barcelona’s domination of the Spanish football competition for four seasons.
The fan, fan Ekene Emigo, a student of Ebonyi State University, ordered food and drinks for football fans at Kingol Guest House soccer viewing centre at Uyanwa Street, Abakaliki.
Emigo said that he spent more than N70, 000 on drinks and food for other fans, adding that although that was his school fee, he did not regret the action.
He said with the victory, Real had avenged its four seasons nightmare in the hands of Barcelona.
“I could not pay the fee because my department, Biological Sciences, was among those affected by the closure of Health Sciences campus of the university on Friday, due to students’ unrest.
“I planned travelling back to Benin, my base, on Sunday but decided to watch the match because I dreamt that Real was going to beat Barcelona at their dreaded ‘Nou Camp’ home.
“No amount of money spent on celebrating this victory would be a waste as Real can be compared to blood which runs through my veins,’’ he said.
Emigosaid that Barcelona’s dominance of Real in the past had diminished the achievements of the nine times European champions and the integrity of Coach Jose Mourinho.
“Mourinho had never witnessed the kind of disgrace given to him by Barcelona in his illustrious coaching career and I had always felt like committing suicide whenever Barcelona beat us.
“This should serve as a wake –up call to other clubs to realise that the days of Barcelona’s invincibility were over,” he said.
Emigo said that he would seek other ways of getting the fee before the resumption of school, adding that he could do the unthinkable to support Real Madrid.
“I will tell my father that robbers attacked me and collected the money or collect from my elder siblings who are successful in their various fields,” he said.
Emigo said he did not watch the Nigerian Premier League because of the quality of the teams.
“There is nothing captivating in the Nigerian league,’’ he said.
Emigo said the Nigerian competition was “bedeviled by corruption, biased officiating, poor facilities, inadequate remuneration of players and general lack of glamour.”
Ifeanyi Nnoli, the Manager of the viewing centre, described the incident as unprecedented, adding that Emigo invited bystanders to collect drinks and other consumables after the match.
Chelsea fans pleaded with Emigo to suspend his trip and watch their club’s match with Barcelona last night so that they could reciprocate his gesture to them.
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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