Three Nigerian players will play in today’s quarterfinal ties of the ongoing Lagos International Squash Classics just as Egypt Air has promised to offer free ticket to winner of the raffle draw taking place during the tournament.
Nigeria’s trio of Omolola Ajayi, Udeme James and Londgi Dasbak sealed their places in the last eight of the competition after winning their first round matches on Wednesday at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
To berth in the quarterfinal, James had an easy win over compatriot, Dunni Okikiola while Yemisi Olatunji fell to Slovakia’s Linda Hruzikova as she was beaten 11-7, 11-6, 11-4.
Dasbak and Ajayi gave the host – Nigeria something to cheer as they dismissed their Pakistan counterparts to berth in the last eight of the championship.
Pakistan’s Zahab Khan could not match Dasbak as the young Pakistani fell 3-0, while with just 13 minutes Ajayi bundled out Pakistan’s Neha Kamal Khan 11-1, 11-4, 11-3.
In Thursday’s quarterfinal pairing Nigeria’s Udeme James battles tournament’s number one seed, Egypt’s Heba El-Torky , Nigeria’s Dasbak will confront Netherland’s Milou Van der Heijden, while South Africa’s Cheyna Turker faces Nigeria’s Ajayi, Deon Saffery of Wales’ will battle Slovakia’s Hruzikova.
An optimistic James said she was ready to battle the Egyptian, adding that she would not be intimidated by her ranking.
“I am going to surprise her tomorrow (today) because I am in top shape for this competition because the first match was a bit easy. I will surely do all my thinking on the court because I am aware that she is the number one seeded player for this tournament. Nothing is impossible in squash,” James said.
Meanwhile The raffle draw which is meant for fans and players hold each match day and the star prize is a return ticket to Egypt courtesy Egypt Air.
President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Pinnick on Tuesday heaped encomiums on the immediate past Director General of the National Sports Commission, Chief (Dr) Patrick Ekeji for the extensive research and general painstaking efforts that he invested in his book, Odyssey Of A Green Eagle – From The Pitch To The Summit.
The former Nigeria international defender, former Head Coach of the Senior National Team, former lecturer and former high –flying administrator launched the book in Abuja on Tuesday last week.
Speaking after going through a copy of the book at the NFF Secretariat in Abuja, Pinnick pointed out that Ekeji was a rare breed, to have successfully traversed the platforms of player, coach, teacher and administrator with astounding success.
“I am genuinely impressed by the remarkable work that Chief (Dr) Ekeji has come out with. You need to read the book to appreciate the depth of research and the efforts that went into putting words and pictures together.
“Odyssey Of A Green Eagle is written in very simple language and in story form, for all to enjoy. The accounts of how our own Chief (Dr) Ekeji rose from a secondary school player to the Senior National Team, and then became Coach, to lecturer and then through the ranks at the NSC to Director General, makes interesting reading and is recommended to all budding football players, aspiring coaches, dedicated teachers and ambitious administrators.”
The 185–page book details Ekeji’s playing career from Holy Ghost College, Owerri, to St. George’s Catholic School, Falomo, to St. Gregory’s College, Obalende, to recruitment attempt into the Biafran Air Force, to a stint with P&T Vasco da Gama Football Club and onto the Senior National Team.
He also talked about his education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to coaching education in Frankfurt, Germany, and then to the role of Coach of Green Eagles’ Coach in 1985, before coaching roles at UNTL FC of Kaduna and ACB FC of Lagos, and then onto service at the Imo State Sports Council and then to the National Sports Commission, where he served as Director General between 2009 and 2013.
Educative and informative, the book also details political intrigues at the NSC and the NFF, as well as contemporary issues in sports administration and reforms he engineered at the NSC and within the sports federations.
Boxing, as a sport in Nigeria, is about to undergo a revival. The platform for the long-sought rebirth of the sport, which enjoyed huge popularity right up to the 80s before suffering depression, is the GOtv Boxing Night, a professional boxing event promoted by major Digital Terrestrial service provider, GOtv.
The event is conceived to bring back the lustre of boxing through adequate encouragement of boxers in the country.
To announce the event, a press conference featuring representatives of media organisations across the country will hold at 12 noon on Thursday, 6 November, 2014. Venue of the press conference is Old Skool, Brai Ayonote Boxing Complex, National Stadium, Lagos.
Expected to be in attendance are boxing legends, top officials of boxing regulatory bodies, representatives of boxing clubs and boxing enthusiasts.
GOtv Boxing Night, which holds at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos on 23 November, will feature an eye-catching line-up of six professional bouts
The Edo State will be breaking new grounds with the introduction of the game of Rugby into schools through the launch of International Rugby Board grassroots program tagged “Get Into Rugby”
The program will be launched on Thursday 06 November 2014 through a Seminar & Clinic at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Media Center from 9am-4pm for School’s sports teacher/master/mistress of over 25 Schools drawn from both government and private schools respectively in Benin City.
According to the coordinator of the program Mr. Ntiense Williams, the Head Coach of Edo State Rugby Association, who also introduced the sport into Edo State some 8 years ago, “We will like to get Edo State fully integrated into the National & International Rugby scheme of things with the introduction of the Schools Rugby program tagged by the International Rugby Board as “Get Into Rugby” (GIR), and what we will popularly refer to as “Catch Them Young Sports Development Program.
This program is a genuine way of inculcating the ethos & rudiments of Rugby Football to our children at a very early age which will greatly help them to grow in the system, and become National & International players of repute to Edo State in the nearest future. Said Williams who is also popularly know as “Mr. Rugby” in Nigeria.
“initially when I was brought to Edo state, it was solely for producing a team, and winning the National Sports Festival which we have done creditably well with a historic record of 4 gold medals out of the available 6 gold medal, a feat which has not be broken to date, but we believe that we need to bring the game to the international standard which is why the introduction of the schools game is very paramount” Said Ntiense who is the only International Rugby Board Educator for Nigeria.
IRB – Get Into Rugby
“Get Into Rugby” (GIR) is an International Rugby Board program aimed at promoting and popularizing the beautiful game of Rugby around the world towards Rugby’s re-introduction into the Olympic Games of Rio 2016 as a medal winning event.
Early this year, the IRB in conjunction with the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation hosted an Educator & Coaching Seminar for the “Get Into Rugby” program in Lagos. At the end of the program, Edo State was one of the 8 States in the entire country selected for the Pilot Scheme of the program.
This program is very timely for us in Edo State, as we are now involved in genuine sports development to be able to identify talents to replace our aging ones who are fast wearing out.
We will also be grooming up genuine athletes for the Junior National Sports Festival & the Schools Sports Festival respectively, which Rugby will soon feature in and also preparing the grounds for the reintroduction of Rugby in the Bi-annual National Sports Festival after Calabar 2014 games.
We will like to call on well meaning Companies, Organizations, and individuals to come on board to sponsor this program through the donation of simple things like Rugby balls which is the basic requirement to introduce the game into a community. We are looking at attaching each school in the program to an interested individual sponsor or donor, especially people that have affinity with the school.
I am really excited with this program and I am looking forward to it kicking of with the launch Seminar & Clinic on Thursday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. I am very grateful to the Nigeria Association of Physical Health Education, Recreation, Sports & Dance Oredo Chapter led by the Chairman Mr. Okunyawe A.V. & Secretary Mr. Peter Okodu who have given the program a good platform to spring off from.
The Seminar & Clinic is expected to be declared open by the Edo State Honourable Commissioner for Youth, Sports & Social Mobilization Chris Okaeben.
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