Lagos state put up a spirited effort over the weekend at the men’s final of the 4th edition of the Honorable Victor Ochei international wheelchair basketball tournament to claim the sum of 1.5 million niara cash prize and a giant trophy for emerging as the 2015 champions.
Honourable Victor Ochei Addressing the players and fans during the finals while Director General, Lagos state sports commission, Mr Ayo Agbesuwa looks on
The game witnessed by the sponsor and former speaker of the Delta state house of assemble, Honourable Victor Ochei, President of the Wheelchair Basketball Federation, Hon. Bukola Olopade, Director General, Lagos state sports commission, Mr Ayo Agbesuwa, Lagos state Liason Officer of the National sports commission, Pastor (Mrs) Tayo Oreweme amongst other notable dignitaries saw a determined Lagos team reclaim the title they lost last year by 39points to 34 against Oyo.
In the women finals, Delta state outclassed Imo by 14 points to 5 as they went home with a giant trophy and 500,000 naira as the grand prize.
The third place of the women category went to Oyo who defeated Ogun while Edo beat Ogun, 53-1 in men’s category.
The duo of Remi Obasanya and David Segun were awarded 100,000 each after they emerged as the Most Valuable players of the tournament.
Speaking after the medal and trophy presentation to the teams, Ochei expressed his delight at the improved level of the competition as he promised to continue doing all his best for the sport as the grand patron of the federation.
He praised Olopade for his tenacity and vision in reposition the sport which is fast becoming popular in Nigeria as he appealed to well meaning Nigerians and the corporate society to invest in the sports.
The Lagos State Wheelchair Basketball team on friday booked a ticket to the finals of the 4th edition of the Honourable Victor Ochei International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament after defeating their counterparts from Ogun State by 87points to 3.
4th Victor Ochei International Wheelchair basketball tournament
Defending champion, Oyo state also continued where they left off in their last group game as the ousted Edo state by 44 points to 28 against Edo in a keenly contested encounter.
In the women’s category, Imo scored 6points to qualify for the finals against Oyo state who only managed to score only 2points.
Delta State also booked their place in the finals after scoring 19 points against a hapless Ogun side.
The 3rd place and the finals will take place tomorrow at the Indoor sports hall of the National stadium, at 9:00 am.
Victor Ochei International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament
The winner of the 2015 edition in the men’s category will cart home a sum of 1.5million Naira, 2nd will pocket 1,000,000, Naira while the 3rd placed team will go home with 750,000 thousand Naira.
In the women’s category the winner will be given 500,000 naira, the 2nd placed team will settle for 300,000 and the 3rd prize will smile home with 200,000.
The competition is expected to end on Saturday, 17th of October, 2015.
Edo recorded their 2nd victory on matchday 3 of the 4th edition of the Honorable Victor Ochei International Wheelchair basketball tournament taking place at the Indoor sports of the National Stadium, Lagos.
In the men’s category, Team Edo condemned their neighbours, Delta state to a 45 to 9 points loss to finish 2nd on 5 points and march on to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Host, Lagos inflicted a defeat on Imo State as the match ended 50points to 10 in favor of the team from the centre of excellence.
In group A, Kwara State beat Rivers State by 16 points to 14 points but that was not enough as both failed to advance to the knockout stages.
In other matches played in group A, Oyo State were merciless in dismantling Ogun State by 67 points to 2 with both teams still booking their ticket to the semi finals despite the result.
Ogun State crawled past Kwara State in a low scoring game to finish 2nd in group A of the women’s category while Rivers State finished bottom of the table with 3 point after losing to Oyo State.
4th Honorable Victor Ochei International Wheelchair basketball tournament
In group B, Delta State defeated Imo State by 10point to 2. Lagos State set an unenviable record, losing all their 3 matches as they once again lost to Edo State. Semi final actions will resume tomorrow.
In the women’s semi finals, group B winner, Imo will clash with group A runners up, Oyo while Delta will face Ogun.
In the men’s semi finals pairing, Oyo will face Edo as invincible Lagos will hope to crush Ogun
The winner of the 2015 edition in the men category will cart home a sum of 1.5million naira, 2nd will pocket 1,000,000,while the 3rd placed team will go home with 750,000 thousand naira.
In the women category the winner will be given 500,000 naira, 2nd will settle for 300,000 and the 3rd prize will smile home with 200,000.
The competition is expected to end on Saturday, 17th of October, 2015
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.
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Jaguar teams at the weekend ruled the 5th Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championship.
NSCDC, the defending champion in the male category retained the title it won in 2013 after beating Oyo to the podium in the final while NSCDC female team could not repeat the feat of their male counterpart as they conceded defeat to Jaguar team at the three-day tournament held at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park in Lagos.
In the presence of the Minister of Sports/Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Tammy Danagogo, who described taekwondo as a sport with a lot of potential for Nigeria at international tournaments, NSCDC were at their best to clinch the coveted trophy ahead of others.
I have come to know that Taekwondo is one sport where Nigeria has lots of potentials and I am really impressed and elated that every effort is been made by the federation, government at all levels particularly the states and federal government and of course private individuals and corporate organization to ensure that we harness these talents for future podium performance,” the minister said.
To clinch the title for the second time, NSCDC overcame Oyo 37-22 points.
An excited member of the NSCDC male team, Bright Kolade attributed the victory to hardwork.
“We are the defending champions and I am so happy we won again this year. This is the second gold we are winning as a team in this tournament which makes it interesting because it is coming back to back. Special thanks to our coach because he did it. He is a national coach and I can say he is the best,” he boasted.
In the Poomsea event, Kano and Ogun dominated the event with Kano female team garnering 34.80points while Ogun led the male category with 30.10points closely followed by Lagos with 29.40points.
The Kano team was led by Commonwealth Champion, Adaeze Asigbe, who attributed their victory to determination and commitment of the team.
For the President, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), George Ashiru, the tournament was aimed at discovering the best of the bests that will represent the country in subsequent tournaments.
“In this year’s championship we are working with teams and because it is an open tournament, we can have like two teams from same state. We have about forty teams from all over the country including the armed forces and police. Even the civil defense teams who are the defending champions are here too. Basically, we are looking for the best of the bests, so this tournament is not a grassroots tournament. It is for teams with strong athletes coming together trying to compete”, the NTF boss said.
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.
Curtains will fall on the maiden edition of South-West Secondary Schools Games tagged DAWN Games 2014 today at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The schools sports tournament, which saw over 2000 students and officials from Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun States competing in 12 sports will come to a close in a glamorous ceremony expected to be attended by the Executive Governors of all the participating states.
The closing ceremony, which will be chaired by the host Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos, will also be attended by eminent Lagosians, members of Lagos State Executive Council, Permanent Secretaries, members of the State’s House of Assembly, members of Conference 57, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akilolu, Managing Directors of all the sponsor’s companies.
The Commissioner, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, has also directed all teachers and students of the state’s public secondary schools to come out en masse to witness the fun-filled ceremony.
Events such as the finals of 100 metres 4 x 400m relay and 4 x 400m relay for boys and girls will be decided, while a calisthenics display by selected students as well as a music extravaganza will be staged to spice up the occasion.
Meanwhile, the third place match of the football event was won by Team Lagos after they defeated Team Osun in a one sided tie that ended 7-0 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.
Team Lagos also cleared Basketball gold medals in boys and girls’ categories. Team Lagos beat Ogun 73 – 33 points in the boys final, Lagos also defeated Oyo 24-22 points in the girls final at Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Rowe Park , Yaba.
A hard fighting Oyo State football team stopped the ambition of Team Lagos from reaching the final of the male football event at the ongoing DAWN Games at the Agege Stadium on Wednesday.
The pulsating encounter saw Team Oyo scoring two quick goals in the first half of the match through Tajudeen Sodiq, while effort of Team Lagos to equaliser could only produce a goal in the second half through Michael Andrew.
In the other semi final match, Team Ogun thrashed Team Osun 1-0 to set up a final clash against Team Oyo on Thursday. Lagos coach Leo Lawson blamed defensive errors for the defeat, saying that his boys lost concentration when it matters most in the course of the match.
“Our target now is on the third place match against Team Osun. We beat them in the group stage and I expect my boys to do the same again when we meet for the bronze medal tie. I hope to present a new set of players that had not played since we began this competition,” said Lawson.
Secretary of Ogun State Football Association, Leo Adenekan is however looking forward to his state winning football gold at the expense of Team Oyo.
He said after his team beat Team Osun yesterday “I’ve the confidence that we’ll win the gold medal of this event on Thursday by the grace of God,” Leo said.
The third place match between Lagos and Osun will be played by 10a.m Thursday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, while the female final between Lagos and Ogun will be decided by 1:30pm at the same venue. The final will take place by 3:30pm.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mrs. Modupe Omonigbehin is satisfied with the performance of his state in the ongoing Games, which will end on Friday.
Omonigbehin noted that the athletes have proved themselves beyond her expectations, adding that the state may come second at the end of the championship.
“I’m quite impressed with the performance of our students. We have won some medals in some events and we can still win more before the tournament ends on Friday,” she said.
Omonigbehin said that the DAWN Games has lived up to expectations in the area of organisation. She commended the Lagos State Government for its effort to make the tournament a huge success.
She said that the sports facilities put in place by host helped the athletes to perform better and urged other regions in Nigeria to organise an event that will make their athletes prepare for National Sports Festival and future national competitions.
Despite the fact that Team Ondo failed to participate, Omonigbehin said their absence has not really affected the DAWN Games and believes that Team Ondo will take part in the next edition.
Team Lagos completed almost completed a clean sweep of medals of the swimming event at the Dawn games, Lagos 2014.
The swimming pool of the Teslim Balogun Stadium Surulere, was the venue of this Epoch making event, and a sizeable crowd was on hand to witness history being made.
The Lagos team won 30 Gold medals from a possible 32 with 27 Silver and 3 Bronze.
Morayo Okungbowa
Star of the swimming event and arguably star of the tournament is Okungbowa Morayo of Lagos, who won 10 Gold 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals to a make a total of 13 medals, the highest haul of medals by any individual athlete at the DAWN Games so far
This achievement will definitely be impossible for any other athlete at this games to surpass or even match.
Oyo came 2nd on the Swimming medals table with 2 Gold medals 3 Silver and 22 bronze medals, while Ogun state came 3rd with no Gold, 2 Silver and 7 bronze medals.
The kind of display put by Morayo Okungbowa and other young athletes at the DAWN Games only confirms the fact that this country is blessed with a lot of talent and its grassroots competitions like this that we need to harness the various hidden talents across the Nation
The maiden edition of South-West Secondary Schools Games tagged DAWN Games begins on Friday May 16 in Lagos with over 2,000 athletes and officials in attendance.
The DAWN Games, which will be competed by athletes from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti State, is a 12 sports tournament of Nigeria School Sports Federation, NSSF. The sports are Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Chess, Football, Gymnastics, Scrabble, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Taekwondo and Volleyball. It will be staged in three centres across Lagos: Agege Stadium, Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Rowe Park, Yaba and the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, while the NYSC Camp at Iyana Ipaja in Lagos.
According to the schedule of event released to the media by the Technical Sub-Committee of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), athletes and officials are expected to check in to the Games Village on Friday with accreditations taking off in full swing, while events will begin on Sunday May 18 with Football and Gymnastics taking the centre stage at the Agege Stadium and Rowe Park Sports Centre respectively.
According to the schedules, Rowe Park will also play host to Badminton, Basketball and Tennis. At Teslim Balogun Stadium, sports such as Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Volleyball, Swimming, Scrabble and Athletics will be on stage, while Agege Stadium will also host Chess.
It was gathered that Team Ogun, would present 186 athletes, while no fewer than 163 athletes will represent Team Lagos.
Meanwhile, a member of basketball team for Lagos, Ololade Azeez has expressed confidence that Lagos will win gold medal in both male and female basketball event of the competition.
“I am happy to be among the players that will represent Lagos at DAWN Games. Our training so far is superb and very impressive. We are in good form now and ready to win gold medals for team Lagos in Basketball both male and female category,” he said.
Head Coach of Badminton of Team Lagos, Kayode Olatunji said there is high spirit in camp as the players are looking forward to participating at the DAWN Games, adding that the supports the players and officials received from the state government will boost their morale to excel at the Games, which will end on 24 May.
The hoisting of flags for the South-West Secondary Schools Games tagged DAWN Games was held yesterday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Members of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) chaired by Wahid Oshodi attended the flag hoisting ceremony.
The MOC boss said at the ceremony that the hoisting symbolised the readiness of the host, Lagos to stage a glamorous competition.
“I want to tell our brothers and sisters that from other south-west states that we are expecting them for the Games. We want to show again that we can repeat the show and the glamour of the last National Sports Festival tagged Eko 2012 during the DAWN Games,” he said.
“The athletes and officials will experience the hospitality Lagos is known of at the championship. Everything from health, security and all those things that will make us put in place a glamorous competition are ready. The facilities are world class and by Friday this week, the Games will begin,” Oshodi said
The DAWN Games, which will kick off on May 16 to 24 and will be staged at three centres: Agege Stadium, Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba and the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Over 2000 athletes from six states made up of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and host – Lagos are expected to compete in 12 school sports events.
Team Nigeria completed their first two weeks of intensive training in a closed camping at the Kwara State Football Academy in Ilorin with Coach Paul Adams Odey who took charge of the training declaring the boys as ready to become champions.
The 18 boys from St. Barnabas LGEA were taking through basic drills including positional play, stamina building and target shooting ahead the 3rd Milo Africa U-13 Football Championship to be hosted in Lagos from May 29-31.
“We completed the camping exercise which was scheduled to last two weeks and the boys have been primed to face any opposition at their level. The important thing is they responded very well to the drills we put them through and this can be seen in the number of friendly matches they played and won”, disclosed Coach Odey.
He also expressed satisfaction with the depth of strength the boys have built up saying, “we put them through three hours of football in one day and it is significant that they played at the same strength and in fact, stronger in the second game and winning both games”.
Coach Odey said though the Ilorin camping program has been completed, he will be working with the boys daily until their departure to the next camping program. “We just have to keep up with the boys so they don’t lose the strength gained in between the period and this we will be doing outside the academy for now”.
The Team Nigeria squad are expected to undergo another camping exercise at the International Football Academy in Wasimi, Ogun State which is run by ex- international and former captain of the Green Eagles, Chief Segun Odegbami (MON).
The Milo African Championship was first held in South Africa with Nigeria’s Ashegun College, Oyo State winning that maiden edition while Ghana hosted and won the second edition edging St. Stephens School, Lagos in the finals. South Africa, Ghana and Kenya make the quartet of nations that send schools champions to the tournament which will be played at the Campos Square Stadium, Lagos Island.
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