The management of Kwara United FC of Ilorin, has called on the supporters and fans of the club to accept any decision taken over the suspended Technical Adviser of the team, Tunde Abdulrahman.
The management after a meeting on Wednesday said any decision taken will be in the interest and progress of the darling team of Kwarans.
Speaking on behalf of the management, the General Manager, Alhaji Haruna Maigidansanma said what the team need now is absolute support at all corners for the club to retain its status in the league.
The management maintained that it will always welcome positive advise from anyone that will uplift the club or take it to the next level.
KWARA UNITED photo credit LMC Media
They called on all the supporters and fans to remain calm and continue to be law abiding as they have maintained so far this season and before.
The management urged them to come out enmass on Sunday to cheer the team to victory when the Harmony Boys pit their wit against Wikki Tourists of Bauchi at the Kwara Stadium Complex.
Ilupeju Grammar School Lagos and Yejide Grammar School Ibadan, Oyo State have emerged champions in the boys and girls categories respectively in the western conference of 17th edition of Nestle Milo Secondary Basketball Championships concluded at the indoor sports hall of liberty stadium Ibadan.
To emerge victorious in the boy’s category, Ilupeju Grammar Lagos, out dunked Don Domingo Secondary School Warri, Delta State by 37-28. Coach Olayinka Oyewunmi of Ilupeju Grammar School revealed after the victory that his team had proven its capabilities by qualifying for the National finals.
YEJIDE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, GIRL’S CHAMPION
In the girls final, Western conference Defending Champions, Yejide Grammar School Ibadan, confirmed their berth in the national final after beating Zeal College Otta Ogun State by 37-21 to confirm themselves as worthy champions.
Captain of Yejide grammar school, Ibadan, Mattew Busayo, speaking after the match said that they are very happy to have made it to the national finals in Lagos, “the next step for us is to prepare well, correcting our mistakes and strategising our game plan because, This is where the champions of each conferences meet, we are ready and very optimistic of our chances”. Busayo said.
ILUPEJU GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BOYS CHAMPION
Speaking exclusively after the final game, Mr dairo Jacob, who Represented the National President of the NSSF, expressed his delight with the standard of the tournament and thanked Nestle milo the sole sponsors of the championship.
Meanwhile, nestle Nigeria plc, Category Business Manager Mr femi Akintola has reiterated his company’s resolves to continue to contribute its quota to the development of basketball in the country.
According to Akintola, Nestle believes that sports serves as a suitable platform for the youths to learn values such as honestly, teamwork, fair play, respect, adherence to rules, discipline , perseverance, resilience, and a strong sense of purpose and that is the motivating factor behind his company’s commitment.
It was all fireworks at the Western Conference Semi final games of the 17TH Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship at the indoor sport hall of Liberty stadium Ibadan.
Don Domingo Secondary School Warri, Delta State outshined Greenland Academy from Ogun State 34-29 in a closely contested match in first semi final.
Coach of the The Ogun State addressing his wards during The Semi-final Of The 17Th Milo Basketball Championships
Speaking after the match, Head Coach of the Delta side Solomon Inegbedi said, our victory in all stages means so much to us and most especially to grassroots sports, I applaud my players and salute their courage, I also thank Nestle Plc, sponsors of the championship for assisting in the development of basketball in the country.
In second semi final played, Ilupeju Grammar School Lagos confirmed their supremacy over Government Secondary Ilorin School, Kwara State with an emphatic 41-15.
Ilupeju grammar school lagos, will take on Don Domingo Secondary School Warri Delta State, in the final game of Western Conference.
In the girl’s semi finals, Ogun State representatives, Zeal College Otta, Ogun State will play against host team, Yejide Grammar School Ibadan, in the Western Conference Final slated for Tuesday. The girls from Ogun State soared in the last quarter to defeat hard fighting Anglican High School, Ekiti State 24-22.
17TH MILO BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The head coach of Zeal College Otta, Akindele Peter said, the victory was well deserved and we are happy clinching a final ticket.
In the second semi final played, the defending champion Yejide Grammar School Ibadan walloped Wesley Girls Senior Lagos, in thrilling and sensational encounter by 38-30.
Yejide Grammar School Ibadan Oyo State, which has twice won the zone in the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship, picked the first semi final ticket in the girls category at the ongoing Western Conference playoffs taking place in the indoor sports hall of Liberty stadium, Ibadan.
The hardworking, dedicated and disciplined Ibadan side defeated Queen Elizabeth School Ilorin, Kwara State 53-05 points. Team coach, Yemi Abiodun who was piloting affairs from the bench, praised his girls for their resilience: “I asked my players to take it easy and play their normal game without underrating the opponent”
Also Zeal College Otta, Ogun State silenced highly rated Ugborikoko Secondary School Warri, Delta state by 10-08.
Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship.
In the other quarter final matches played, Anglican high school Ado Ekiti, defeated Regina Mundi Girls Secondary school, Iwo, Osun State by 52-05, while Wesley Girls Senior of Lagos state over powered Queen of Rosary College Onitsha, Anambra state, by 56-08.
The semi final matches are billed for Monday at the same venue with hosts, Yejide Grammar School Ibadan confronting Wesley Girls’ Senior School Lagos, While Zeal College Otta, representing Ogun State, will take on Anglican High School from Ekiti State.
In the boys’ category, Don Domingo Secondary School Warri, defeated Ado Grammar School Ekiti by 28-15, while Government Secondary School Ilorin, Kwara State sent host boys Loyola College Ibadan packing by 37-33. Lagos and Ogun state walked over their opponents from Anambra and Osun State respectively in the other quarter final match. The Anambra and Osun boys teams were disqualified during the screening exercise.
The semi final pairings in the boys category are Lagos versus Kwara in first semi final game and Ogun State versus Delta state on Monday.
The maiden Lagos Athletics Relays Championship scheduled for Teslim Balogun Stadium kicks off on Friday April 24 with over N8m at stake at the two-day tournament.
Over 50 schools in Lagos as well as states like Delta, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo including para military clubs like Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) will be part of the competition.
According to the organizers, the championship is one of the series of tournament under the Lagos International Sports Classics, which has hosted and still hosting tournaments in table tennis, badminton, taekwondo, swimming, golf among others.
In all, nine events will be jostled for in the junior and senior categories with the grand finale holding on Saturday April 25 at same venue.
For the chairman, Lagos State Athletics Association, Olatunde Makanju, the competition is aimed at igniting the interest of students in athletes, adding that the maiden edition would provide avenue for the state to be hosting the best legs across the globe.
“From our observation, it has been discovered that athletics is going down in schools and we feel staging this kind of event would help to ignite the interest of the students to embrace the sport. Aside this, we are hoping that the tournament will become a world class event with the best athletes across the world coming to Lagos to compete in the prize-money competition. For us in Lagos, we are always setting the pace and we hope that this maiden edition will be a springboard for the sport to win more disciples and have more young people competing,” Makanju said.
Over 50 secondary schools in Lagos will compete in the junior division with athletes taking part in events like 4x100metre, 4x200m, 100 as well as Swedish relay in 100, 200, 300 and 400m. for their efforts, the top three athletes in each event will go home with N50, 000, N30, 000 and N20, 000 respectively.
In the senior category, states, clubs, tertiary institutions, military, para military organizations and foreign countries will compete in 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400, as well as sprint medley like 100, 200, 400 and 800metres. N120, 000, N80, 000 and N50, 000 respectively will be won by the top three athletes in each event.
As the maiden Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF)-organised elite junior and cadet training camp enters final week, players taking part in the exercise are still in cloud nine over the quality of coaching coupled with the superb organization of the 14-day training camp.
The two weeks camping exercise was initiated by one of Africa’s most decorated table tennis players, Segun Toriola assisted by national coach, Nosiru Bello and Friday Aba.
The 18 players taking part are made up of nine boys and nine girls and they were drawn from Lagos, Ogun, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and they are between the ages of seven and 16.
For the trio of Tosin Oribamishe, Abayomi Animashaun and Afeez Solanke, the exercise has imparted so much on them as they had acquired new skills as well as correct some of their lapses in the game.
sther Oribamishe is one of the players taking par in the ongoing NTTF elite junior and cadet training camp holding in Lagos1
Oribamishe, one of the most travelled junior players and the current national junior champion, believes that the “elite junior and cadet training camp” should be staged regularly.
“we have never had this kind of camping before and I want to appeal to the federation not to make it a one-off event especially with the presence of Toriola, who has played to the highest level in the world. His presence alone served as a motivation to us because we have seen some of things he has been able to achieve with the game and we are also hoping that we can follow in his footstep.
this camp has revealed my mistakes and I have been able to correct it while I also pick up new skills. So this exercise should be sustained especially for the young players,” Oribamishe said.
For 12 year-old Animashaun, the camping has been an eye opener especially with the presence of his role model, Toriola, whom he said has impacted so much in him during the exercise.
His words: “In the camp, I leant not to be on the defensive side when playing and that I must be on the offensive. Also, my top-spin as well as my looping is now perfect because they are now staying on table.
Also, I have been able to adjust my movement on the table which I found very difficult to correct before. All these are things I have been able to do within the first week of the camping. As we enter the final week, I am hoping that I will pick up new things.”
Solanke, winner of the maiden DAWN Games, admits that being part of the exercise has been worthwhile.
“I am so happy that I made it to the camp and for me this is an opportunity for me to perfect my skills especially as I am looking forward to making it to the national junior team.
I can say that Toriola has really impacted so much in us while the organisation of the camping has been so impressive since last week. We are also hopeful that this week will be more interesting than last week,” the southpaw player said.
According to the President, NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, the players were selected based on their performance in competitions sanctioned by the federation and with the aim of teaching them the basics of the game.
For the initiator of the camp, Toriola, the country still blessed with enormous talents in the game, while efforts should be geared towards nurturing these skills to stardom.
“It is very important for former players that had represented this country to see how they can help to improve the game through this kind of exercise which I believe if staged regularly will surely help the young players to improve and rub shoulders with the world’s best.
Most of the players are just playing without understanding the basics especially in pushing long balls and also the need for them to be on the attack because nobody plays defensive game these days.
With what I have seen so far, I think there are bright prospects in the game.
Also our former players should change their mind that until they become national team coaches before they can contribute their own quota towards the development of the game.
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