Delta State determination to ensure that her athletes made podium appearances at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is on track according to Solomon Ogba the Chairman of Delta State Athletics. Ogba’s confidence is buoyed by the performance of Raymond Ekevwo in the 60m Indoor over the weekend. Ekevwo won the race in 6.53 sec, the […]
via AHEAD TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: Delta State Programme On Track Says Solomon Ogba — finixsportsblog
Blessing Okagbare and Ogho-Oghene Egwero both inspired Team Nigeria to victories in the 4X100m Relays event at the 2017 Warri Relays
via Warri Relays
Nigeria fastest sprinters Blessing Okagbare and Seye Ogunlewe top the list of Team Nigeria athletes to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In a statement signed by Olukayode Thomas, head Media and Communication Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Okagbare will competing in the sprints, long jump and the 4x100m relay in Brazil. Others in the women […]
via Okagbare, Ogunlewe Make Nigeria’s Team To Rio 2016 — newfanzoneblog
Seye Ogunlewe is Nigeria’s fastest man again after winning the 100m Men’s title at the All-Nigeria Championships which ended on a high note on Friday. Ogunlewe who won his first national title in Warri in 2015 beat his rivals as he ran a new Personal Best time of 10.12secs to retain his crown and also […]
All-Nigeria Championships: Okagbare wins Seventh title …As Antwon Hicks sets new national record Blessing Okagbare on Thursday claimed her 7th All Nigeria 100m title as she won the Women’s 100m event with a time of 11.02secs in Day One of action at the ongoing All-Nigeria Championships in Sapele, Delta State. Okagbare who was conspicuously missing […]
via All-Nigeria Championships: Okagbare Wins Seventh Title — newfanzoneblog
Sir, permit me to wish you a belated happy birthday and I pray that the Almighty God hold you tightly and bless you with good health, wisdom and all you desire to do to move Nigeria to greater heights.
I am writing you as a patriotic Nigerian, Sports Journalist and advocate to do the needful for the citizens of the Nation who have gone through fire and brimstone to bring joy to the faces of millions in the Nation.
Sports in the Year 2015
The outgoing year 2015 is one of the best that Sports have had in recent times, our athletes have done superbly well in different sports and also some fine administration and management were put in place in the nation. The Presidency has kept mute and riddled with mixed reports of promises and cut away pay of entitlements for Athletes.
Nigeria broke and created records, set new trends in the global world of sports.It is good to quickly note that our own track queen, Blessing Okagbare was honoured by the Guinness books of records for her fantastic run in the Diamond League as the only sprinter with the highest appearances.
Scrabble in 2015
A world record was created in scrabble by Wellington Jighere, he won the world scrabble championship and became the first ever Nigerian and African to do so. He beat 129 competitors to win a championship where he defeated Lewis MacKay with four straight wins at the best-of-seven finals.
Football in 2015
Football also did well this year with the U17 Golden Eaglets winning the FIFA world cup back-to-back, the U23 men’s national team also won the African youth nations cup in Senegal.
Nigerian league club Enyimba international has created a new record in the Nigerian premier league by winning the title for the seventh time.
Basketball in 2015
The Senior National basketball federation aka DTigers won the 2015 edition of the Afrobasket tournament for the first time ever making Nigeria proud, players were honoured at the end of the tournament, it is good to let you know that a Nigerian won the MVP of the tournament.
Athletics and other sports
A Nigerian athlete broke a world record in weightlifting at the Para-sports category, she also created a new one at the all African games which took place in Congo Brazzaville. Wrestling won five gold medals while Athletics won three gold medals at the All African Games.
Why honour them?
Sir, you are owing these great men and women an honour and decorations, and it is imperative for you to give them their entitlement as bonafide Nigerians who have served diligently. If you honour these ones, it will make them feel loved and of course accepted for their effort. It will also encourage the upcoming athletes at the grassroot level to help the Nation.
It is a custom and norm in our nation for the federal government to appreciate athletes who served in truth and fairness.
In conclusion Sir, permit me to add a fact that you promised to redeem the unfulfilled promises you made to the 1985 world-cup-winning U17 squad.
I hope my request get a speedy and positive response. Thank you!
Nigerian Sprint Queen and Commenwealth Champion Blessing Okagbare has been nominated alongside fifteen other Athletes contesting for the Six available seats on the IAAF Athletes’s Commission.
All athletes accredited for IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 will have the right to vote in the elections, which will take place during the championships between 23 and 29 August.
Chairman of the IAAF Athletes’ Commission Frank Fredericks said: “Athletes are a vital pillar in sports and should remain at the heart of the decision-making process in all sport governing bodies,”
“I have seen how the Athletes’ Commission has not only acted as a voice for athletes, but helped to provide improved opportunities to athletes. It is our sincere hope that the new team builds on the foundation that has been set by the current and past members.
“I wish all the 16 candidates all the best with the election process.”
The Full List Of All Sixteen Athletes are Alphabeticaly listed below:
Valerie Adams (NZL)
Mehdi Baala (FRA)
Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT)
Nataliia Dobrynska (UKR)
Michael Frater (JAM)
Jacques Frisch (LUX)
Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS)
Vanda Juhasz (HUN)
Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN)
Fabiana Murer (BRA)
Koji Murofushi (JPN)
Blessing Okagbare (NGR)
Christian Olsson (SWE)
Aliann Pompey (GUY)
Alina Talay (BLR)
Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR)
As the only daughter of my parents, house chores were shared between my brothers and I, mine was kitchen and sweeping related while the guys carried out the harder tasks, my brothers trimmed the grass on the mini football pitch in our house then, sadly, the pitch is long gone now when we all left the house, a mini flat sits on the football pitch today.
Men are stronger of the sexes but have disappeared from the Nigerian Athletics scene. With focus on the sprinters, all we have now is the likes of women like Blessing Okagbare, Ese Brume and so on, hence my query, where are our Men?
In the past, male athletes like Chidi Imoh, Olapade Adenikan, the Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond and lately Olusoji Fasuba, Francis Obikwelu, Umaru Mohammed, and so on did so well and brought honour to Nigeria.
That glorious era is now in the past, gone like a candle in the wind. we have been waiting for over a decade for replacements and it seem like an impossibility.
Gone are the days when primary/Secondary school Inter-house sports, NUGA, NIPOGA Games and the National Sports festival were used to discover young talents, some even said you can get a girlfriend or boyfriend during those periods when people come out to mingle and enjoy Athletics.
However, the National Youth Games that held in Abuja last year was not productive as none of the 8000 athletes has made it to the national team, so what is the problem, has interest of our men folk in athletics waned so much that a single athlete cannot be found?
The men are no longer dedicated to athletics, the question remains what happened, are they lazy or is it because of poor remunerations or the way they were handled by the AFN, some athletes in camp don’t even get paid, even ignored after injury. All I see are women, the performance of our men’s team at the last commonwealth games was not good enough, women on the other hand did a lot better.
It appears more sports like football has drawn away potential sprinters, given the frenzied following that has become the lot club football in recent times.
But it also seems the poor attention given by the AFN in keeping those that were discovered is a challenge.
“Man must survive” as the saying goes. He must also take responsibility and take care of his home, Francis Obikwelu, a former Nigeria Athlete left and naturalized in Portugal, he later won silver medal at the last Olympics for his adopted country. What is the way forward?
The veterans need to come out to mentor the younger generation, it is expected of them to be front-runners and with that they will inspire the talented and willing athletes, it is only natural for them to speak out.
The Athletics Federation on their part should work in engaging our local athletes, treat them well with great financial package and training facilities, enrol some in good schools if possible and with that we can locate our missing men. It is a personal plea from me to you, Dear men please come back and serve the nation.
Many Thanks
twitter @AderonkeW
Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Super Eagles Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, Africa’s fastest woman and Commonwealth gold medalist Blessing Okagbare, Super Falcon striker and Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the just concluded African women Championship (AWC) Asisat Oshoala and Nigeria Table Tennis sensation, Aruna Quadri were among the winners at the 2014 edition of the Nigerians Sports Awards which was held on Thursday.
The event which was held at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos was well attended by dignitaries from the Nigerian sports circle made up of ex-internationals, sports administrators, the media as well as personalities drawn from the corporate world.
Vincent Enyeama and Blessing Okagbare won two awards on the night. Vincent Enyeama won the Footballer of the Year and Sportsman of the Year awards while Okagbare carted home the Track and Field Star of the Year and Sportswoman of the Year categories.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the award panel, Mr. Ikeddy Isiguzo described the third edition of the award as a significant milestone not only for the organisers of the award but for the country as a whole in commemoration of the centenary celebration of the nation.
Three prominent Nigerian Sports Legends were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. They are Pa KAB Olowu, who won 2 silver medals at the 1954 commonwealth games, Dr. George Ogan who won Silver medal at the 1966 Commonwealth games and Dr. Awoture Elaye who was the coach of the Nigerian team to the 1990 Commonwealth games. This category of the award was presented by another veteran, Modupe Oshikoya who was honoured with the same award at the maiden edition.
Other winners at the 2014 award includes Asisat Oshoala who won the Footballer of the Year (Women) category, the Ball sports personality of the year was won by Portugal based Aruna Quadri who also won the category in 2013 while Falconets star, Courtney Dike emerged as the Discovery of the Year 2014.
In the School Sports category, St. Barnabas Primary School, Ilorin emerged winner for winning the West African Football Union (WAFU) under-13 Football competition thereby displacing Greensprings School, Lagos who won the category back to back in the last two editions.
The Falconets emerged the Team of the Year while their Coach, Peter Dedevbo who is also a nominee of the FIFA Women Football Coach of the Year emerged the Coach of the Year.
In the Combat sports personality of the year category, Odunayo Adekuroye emerged the winner, Efe Ajagba won the Boxer of the Year, Loveline Obiji won the Special Sports Person of the Year, Maryam Usman won the Weightlifter of the Year.
Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi, the Lagos Sate Commissioner for Youth Sports and Social Development who is also the President of the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) emerged the winner of the Sports Administrator of the Year.
In the Sports Journalist category, Tana Aiyejina of Punch Newspaper emerged the Journalist of the Year (Print), Ayodele Ojo of the Sun Newspaper emerged the Sports Photo Journalist of the Year, Godwin Enakheana of Top Radio won the Sports Journalist of the Year (Radio) while Miyen Akiri of Galaxy Television won the Sports Journalist of the year (Television).
The 2014 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award has entered the voting phase as the top three nominees for each of the different categories of the award have emerged. The list of the top three nominees for all the categories of the award was unveiled at a Press conference on Thursday by the organisers of the Award.
Addressing the media, the General Manager, Unmissable Incentives Limited, Mr. Kayode Idowu noted that the panel received overwhelming nominations for the 2014 editions of the award from members of the public adding that it was a tough job for the collating to select the top 3 nominees for each category.
According to Idowu, Nigeria’s golden girl, Blessing Okagbare and Super Eagles Goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama top the nomination chat as both of them were nominated in two categories.
Blessing Okagbare who won double Gold medals at the just concluded Commonwealth Games was nominated for the Track & Field Star of the Year and SportsWoman of the Year Awards while Vincent Enyeama was nominated for the Sportsman of the Year and Footballer of the Year Awards.
Asisat Oshoala, who won the Golden Boot and Ball at the just concluded Women U-20 world Cup, is nominated alongside Desire Oparanozie and Dike Courtney for the Footballer of the Year (Women) category.
Vincent Enyeama, Emmanuel Eminike, Ogenyi Onazi are nominated for the Footballer of the Year (Male)
In the Ball Sports category, high flying Table Tennis player Aruna Quadri, who won the award last year, is nominated alongside another sensational table tennis player: Segun Totiola and Onaolapo Ojo while Blessing Okagbare and Ese Brume are the only two nominated for the track and field award.
Coach of the Falconets, Peter Dedevoh, Manu Garba and Stephen Keshi are the three nominees for the Coach of the Year Award.
For the Team of the Year Award The Falconet, Super Eagles and Golden Eaglets are the nominees.
Vincent Enyeama, Ogenyi Onazi and Osaze Odewinge are the three nominees for the Sportsman of the Year while Blessing Okagbare, Asisat Osoala and Courtney Dike are to slug it out for the Sportswoman of the Year Award.
The three Governors; Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and Liyel Imoke of Cross River State who were nominated for the Sports Governor of the Year Award last year still emerged the nominees for the 2014 edition.
For Boxing Star of the Year Award, Ekpo Isaac, Efe Ajagba and Efetobor Akpochi are the top nominees.
Wrestler duo of Aminat Adeniyi and Odunayo Adekuroye were nominated with Teakwando Star- Chika Chukwumerije for the Combat Sports Star of the Year Award.
In the Discovery of the Year category Asisat Oshoala battles Ese Brume and Courtney Dike for the honour while Maryam Usman and Oluwatoyin Adesanmi were nominated for the Weightlifting award of the Year.
Nominees for other categories include Aminu Maigari, Solomon Ogba and Waheed Enitan Oshodi (Administrator of the Year), Green Springs School, Lekki, Toybat international school, Lagos and ST Barnabas, Ilorin (School Sports Award) while Esther Oyeama, Loveline Obiji, and AbdulAzeez Ibrahim made the shortlist for the Special Sports Person of the Year Award.
In his own remarks at the Press conference, the Chairman of the Award Panel, Mr. Ikeddy Isiguzo stated that public voting is open for the Sportsman and Sportswoman categories while other category winners would be decided by the panel.
Isiguzo explained that voting will be via SMS at the cost of N50 per SMS and for participants to vote, they would be required to text the abbreviation of the category to 33140.
For instance, the public will text SMOTY and SWOTY to 33140 Plus the name of their Favourite nominated sportsman or sportswoman award of the year respectively.
He announced that voting will commence on Thursday the 18th of September, 2014 and end on the 2nd November, 2014
The organizers of the Nigeria Spots Award (NSA), Unmissable Incentives Limited has commended the Nigeria Track and Field Queen, Blessing Okagbare for winning the 100m gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and setting a new game record of 10.85 seconds.
Okagbare, who won the Track and Field Star and Sports Woman of the Year awards at the 2013 edition of the Nigeria Sports Awards, has been in fantastic form this year with an outstanding performance at the IAAF Diamond League and other competitions preceding the Commonwealth Games.
According to the General Manager, Unmissable Incentives Limited, Mr. Kayode Idowu, Blessing Okagbare has justified her place in history and also justified winning the Track and Field Star and the Sport Woman of the Year awards last year. She has also justified the investment of the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan led Delta State Government.
“We at Nigerian Sports Award are very proud to be associated with Blessing, we are proud of her achievement and with this achievement, Blessing has lent credence to the credibility of Nigerian sports Award” he said.
Kayode Idowu also commended the unrelentless effort of Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State for the scholarship and immense support for Blessing which has brought her this far.
He noted that with this incredible achievement by Blessing, the organizers of the Nigerian Sports Award has also vindicated on the Sports Governor of the Year award bestowed on Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in the 2013 edition of the Award.
He then urged Blessing to continue to give her best to win more gold medals in her other event at the Games while charging other Nigerian Athletes at the Commonwealth Games to put in their best in their respective games to win more medals for the country.
Nigerian Sports Award Hails Blessing Okagbare for Diamond League Triumph
Unmissables Incentives Limited – organisers of the Nigerian Sports Award has commended Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare for her outstanding performance at the ongoing Shanghai Diamond League.
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare who is also the reigning fastest woman in Africa displayed an excellent performance at the event setting new records and winning the Women’s Long Jump and 200 metres events.
Blessing Okagbare won the Sportswoman of the Year and the Track & Field Star of the Year awards at the 2013 edition of the prestigious Nigerian Sports Award for her exploits and excellent performance in the world of sport.
According to the General Manager, Unmissable Incentives Limited, Mr. Kayode Idowu, Nigerian Sports Award is very proud of the achievement of Blessing Okagbare at the Shanghai Diamond League dominating the track and field event with two Gold medals in Long Jump and 200 metres race.
‘’On behalf of the Award Panel and all sports loving Nigerians, we want to congratulate our own Blessing Okagbare, the winner of the Sportswoman of the Year at the 2013 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award for making Nigeria and indeed Africa proud in the Diamond League and for setting a new record’’ He said.
Idowu noted that Okagbare’s feat at the Diamond League has justified the two awards she bagged at the 2013 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award and another testimonial for the awards.
He also commended Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who coincidentally won the Sports Governor of the Year in 2013 for the unflinching support of the Delta State Government to Okagbare who hails from the state by sponsoring her trips and training and also supporting her education.
Idowu used the medium to restate that nomination is on for 2014 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award. He then call on Nigerians sports enthusiasts to visit the official website for the award i.e. http://www.nigeriansportsaward.com to nominate their sports personalities for the different categories.
Photo credit: Athleticsweekly.com
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