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Please permit me to
make myself absolutely clear as regards the state of sports in Nigeria.
In as much as I have decided and I am totally committed to the
development of sports in Nigeria, I do not wish for a moment to be
branded as a pessimist. I do not also want to be part of the problems,
or to be seen to contribute to the problems that Nigerian sports is
experiencing currently. I see myself as a source of solutions and not
of problems to sports. To achieve this however, I have come to realize
that the truth has to be told and wisdom has to be applied in order to
get the message across.

Dancing around the solution

Yes, indeed, and we
will explain. Horses are extremely strong beasts of burden.They are
also very fast when it comes to running and can get violent if need be.
Tie a rope around the neck of a horse and fasten the rope to the trunk
of a tree. In due course, the horse begins to walk about and around the
tree trunk as a natural animalistic tendency. In most cases, the horse
moves in just one direction, hence the rope with which the horse is
tied to the tree is eventually wound around the tree trunk and the
movement of the horse is stopped. The horse thus finds itself comatose.
This is why it is generally believed that a horse is full of muscles,
but with a little brain. Those who are apostles of sports development
will agree that sports as it is being administered in Nigeria today can
be appropriately likened to the horse described above. If care is not
taken, very soon, the shallow and unkempt pool producing the athletes
representing this great nation at international and national
competitions, will dry up.

Assessing the growth

A critical
assessment of football, table tennis, tennis and boxing, may offer us a
vivid picture of the unfortunate situation. Football, like most other
sports in Nigeria, is all about noise and negative motions. Football
management in Nigeria has been so compromised that it will take the
divine intervention of God for the beautiful game to be rescued from
the grip of the cabal who seem to be presently in charge — albeit,
illegitimately. Whereas billions of tax payers’ monies are being
intentionally wasted on football promotion, the foundation on which the
pyramid of football development is built has been stupidly and
ignorantly ignored. Even at the age-grade level with age falsification,
it is all about perambulating and no progress that will encourage our
children who are naturally and divinely endowed with massive
potentials, to pursue football playing as a career.

How for instance,
for the sake of the future of Nigerian sports and the sake of our
children, should the councillor in charge of the ministry of
agriculture, be in charge of sports in some local government areas?

This is the extent
to which sports — especially football has been abused and trivialized
by politicians. Those in charge of schools’ sports are also insincere
about searching and grooming talents that abound in our schools.
Whereas there is genuine synergy between education and sports in some
other parts of the world, the opposite is the case here. All we hear is
that the Nigerian Schools Sports Federation (NSFF) is either executing
a jamboree referred to a sports festival,or embarking on a tour of some
foreign nations. There is nothing developmental at all in these
junketing.

Promotions instead of training

One very important
point we would like to stress at this point is the fact that we are not
at all against the several football competitions unscrupulously
organised. The point is that in football, for instance, mere
participation in matches does not guarantee the improvement or
development of young football players. What these young ones need at
this stage is an exposure to the scientific rudiments of football
playing in such a non-threatening and fun-spiced manner, that they will
be able to express themselves and enjoy playing the beautiful game.
This makes them believe in themselves and the coaches and trainers
handling them. Do we have such coaches/trainers in our schools or at
what we erroneously refer to as grassroots football academies in
Nigeria? I doubt it and confess that I am one of those to be held
responsible for this. I can’t believe I have spent so much time and
space just perambulating around issues concerning age-grade football,
while I thought we would be dealing with table tennis, tennis and
boxing today. Meanwhile, there is still so much to discuss on the state
of football in Nigeria.

So much to talk and do about how to actualize the process of
developing football in Nigeria, instead of wasting money, time and
effort on promotions. One thing is absolutely clear anyway. Between
every two different days is a very dark night. Nigerians cannot afford
to forget so quickly that Nigeria’s glorious past was the result of a
broad-based developmental programme, which was the product of a sound
administration, which recognised that excellence was a function of
early identification of talent. Our sports life is going through a
night after a very glorious day we have been referring to as the
past/lost glorious era. This night will definitely pass away and a new
dawn will emerge. All will be well.

Though the Super Eagles moved up one spot to finish the year in
32nd position, the performance for the period is the worst finish in a year-end
for the country’s national team in the last six years.

The Eagles started the year with yet another third place finish
at the Nations Cup in Angola, and also failed to make it beyond the first round
of the first World Cup on African soil, hosted recently by South Africa,
amongst other disappointing performances in the course of the year. While some
have blamed the handlers of the team for the woes, others have faulted the
commitment level of most of the players that make up the team. Already, the new
coach, Samson Siasia, has promised sweeping changes in the team in a bid to
make the Eagles soar again.

The country’s best year-end finish in the last six years was in
2006 when the country was rated 9th in the world. However, the team failed to
make it to the World Cup in Germany that year and also finished 3rd in the
Nations Cup hosted by Egypt.

This scenario has made some football fans question the
reliability of the monthly FIFA rankings to adequately rate the performance or
achievement of the Eagles. Egypt remains the continent’s highest ranked team in
9th position, while Ghana is in second place and is ranked 16th. Cote D Ivoire
occupy third spot in 21st position, followed by Nigeria and Algeria in 4th and
5th spot respectively in the continent.

Top finishers

World champions, Spain, finished the year in top spot as the
upper reaches of the latest rankings reflect the teams’ performances at the
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Runners-up, the Netherlands, are in second
place; followed by semi-finalists, Germany, who have bumped Brazil out of third
place.

For the third year in a row, Spain are the Team of the Year,
while the Netherlands have claimed the title of Best Mover of the Year for the
team that earned the most points in 2010. Other teams have also caused a stir
outside the top ten. Montenegro, who just a year ago were ranked 74th, gained
368 points to finish the year in 25th position. Botswana were also successful,
starting the year in 118th position and ending it in 53rd.

African soccer, which failed again to get past the quarter-final
barrier at the 2010 World Cup, reached its first senior global final on
Tuesday. The Club World Cup may not have the prestige of FIFA’s big showcase
tournament for national teams, but African champions TP Mazembe were relishing
their achievement.

The team from the Democratic Republic of Congo upset South
America champions Internacional of Brazil 2-0 in an exciting semi-final of the
seven-team tournament at the Mohammad bin Zayed stadium.

“I think the whole team were playing very well… I went to talk
to them (at halftime and said) ‘now this is not Brazil which they are saying,
you are better then them, you can do better than them, just like in the Bible
David killed Goliath’,” club chairman Moise Katumbi Chapwe said.

“It was not an easy game, no one gave us a chance, they think
you are coming to lose,” the smartly dressed 46-year-old businessman and
politician told reporters.

“I prepared this team (from) a long time ago and they started
from the age of 16 so this is the result.” Coach Lamine N’Diaye, who is from
Senegal, said African soccer had been progressing steadily and its day had
come.

“Yesterday (Monday), I said this day was not far away and I
believed it. I asked the players ‘do you want to achieve something?'” N’Diaye
told the post-match news conference.

“It’s high time that Africa was taken seriously. We have eyes,
arms, legs, a head and we can think,” he said.

“We knew we were a great team, we just needed a place to show
it. In Africa, it’s already big to win the Champions League twice in a row.”

TP Mazembe, founded in 1939 by Benedictine monks, have twice won
successive African Champions League titles, the first time in 1967 and 1968.

“To win is always nice but here that takes on a bigger
dimension,” N’Diaye said. “We have players with talent and conviction… These
players are easy to coach.

“Last year we came here to get experience, this year it was to
do better,” he added.

Mazembe finished sixth last year after losing their quarter-final 2-1 to
Pohang Steelers of South Korea and the fifth-place playoff to surprise team
Auckland City.

The International Education Week organized by the International
Inspiration Club of the Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, ended on a
colourful note on Wednesday.

The event which got
underway on Monday with a football match between FSTC and Bright Future Science
School that ended in a 6-1 victory for the hosts, served as an opportunity for
the participants to express their leadership skills through sports and play.

On Tuesday, a seven’s rugby game was played by the boys and the
girls. The first match was played between the female rugby team from FSTC and
their counterparts from Queens College, Lagos.

The girls from Queens College were at first all fired up,
encouraged by their physical education instructor, who they fondly called
“Coachie”, but they were unable to stand up to the more technical FSTC side,
who at the end of the day, won 30-15.

The FSTC male team were however not as fortunate as they were
beaten by the boys from Kings College 17-5.

Delight

Coach of the King’s College rugby team, John Silvanus Sire,
afterwards expressed his delight at his team’s performance. “I am so happy with
the performance of my boys,” he said, before adding: “we just started practice
this year and see how well they are catching up.”

On the part of the players from FSTC, they expressed dismay at
their loss, citing a change in tactics. According to Johnpaul Nwaya, a member
of the side, “We had already practiced with 10 players because we thought we
were going to play a 10-a-side rugby. When the formation changed it got us
confused.”

Although there was very little to cheer in boxing circles in
Nigeria during the outgoing year, the country has been promised a big boost
come next year by an international boxing promotion outfit, Louaa Boxing
Promotions.

Based in Egypt, LBP, who was recently granted a license to
promote fights in Nigeria, has swung into action with the first set of bouts
from the outfit’s stables fixed for February 12, 2011. Powered by former
heavyweight boxer, Richard Nwoba, a Nigerian based in Egypt, and Ralph Chidozie
George, a sports presenter as its West Africa representative, the organization
has promised boxing fans a swell time.

Already, six bouts have been scheduled for the debut promotion
in Nigeria. Confirmed competitions for the day are an Egyptian Cruiserweight
title fight involving two Egyptians, a UBO Africa title bout in the super
welterweight category, as well as a national heavyweight title bout amongst
other bouts yet to be announced.

Louaa Boxing, which has ‘Fighting is our Business’ as its motto,
has promoted fights in Turkey, Tanzania, Russia, Germany, Belarus and is the
major boxing promoter in Egypt where it has produced many tough pugilists
including Egypt’s most experienced professional boxer, Ramadan Yasser.

Federation support

While discussing with the secretary-general of the Nigeria
Boxing Board of Control, Remi Aboderin, Mr. Nwoba said he was advised to come
back home and revive the sport which has won several laurels for the country.

“Promoting in different countries, many friends and colleagues
asked me to return and help revive the sport in my country, and that’s why I
came to look around and I think we can do something here,” he said.

“It is sad that this great sport that brought Nigeria glory in
those days has been allowed to go down but all hope is not lost as Louaa is now
here and together with you, we will revive the sport and bring back the lost
glory,” he added.

On his own part, Aboderin promised to assist the new promoter to
succeed in the country.

“We will encourage you just like we will any other promoter who wants to
come back home to promote in the country,” he said.

Bayelsa State have emerged overall winners of this year’s
Governor Sylva National Wrestling Classics, which held in Yenagoa, the capital
city.

Bayelsa, which also won last year’s inaugural edition, emerged
winners in the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle events, as well as in the
Greco-Roman event. In the men’s event, Bayelsa finished tops with 86 points,
ahead of Delta State and Edeze Wrestling Club which finished with 47 and 35
points respectively. In the women’s event, the oil rich state swept the
opposition aside with a colossal haul of 91 points, well ahead of Imo State,
which came in second with 55 points, and Ondo State, which finished a point
less than Imo.

It was a much closer
contest however in the Greco-Roman event as Ondo State and Delta State tried to
make a contest out of it even though their efforts at the end proved incapable
of toppling the hosts who finished first with 70 points. Ondo and Delta
respectively got 58 and 52 points.

Outstanding wrestlers

Ondo, nevertheless, got recognition for producing the best
wrestler in the Women’s Freestyle event; Odunayo Adekuroye, who emerged
victorious in the 51 kilograms weight class where she defeated Bisola
Makanjuola of Akins Wrestling Club in the final. Adekuroye was one of Nigeria’s
medallists at this year’s Commonwealth Games which took place in New Delhi,
India.

In the Men’s Freestyle
event, Opukiri Agala, from Bayelsa State, was the most outstanding wrestler
after defeating all comers in the 74 kilograms weight class, including Famvie
Bekebo of the Ben John Wrestling Club; while Ifeanyi Ukwuagwu, representing
Abia State, emerged as the top wrestler in the Greco-Roman category. This
followed his dominance in the 84 kilograms category where he defeated Moses
Ojo, also of the Ben John Wrestling Club, in the final.

“It was a very good tournament,” said Daniel Igali, the national wrestling
coach. “A lot of very good wrestlers were in attendance and so many potential
champions have been unearthed. This is a step in the right direction and my
thanks goes to the governor of Bayelsa State for making all these possible.”

Super Eagles’ coach, Samson Siasia, will travel to England this
weekend to meet with some of the country’s players, most of whom ply their
trade in the English Premier League.

The trip will serve as the first official parley between Siasia
and some of the country’s top stars since his emergence as the new coach of the
Super Eagles. He will also use the opportunity to sell his vision for building
a formidable Super Eagles side in the aftermath of last summer’s World Cup in
South Africa.

Amongst the players Siasia is expected to meet are Osaze
Odemwingie, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Victor Anichebe, Victor Obinna, John Utaka, and
erstwhile Super Eagles skipper, Nwankwo Kanu. Siasia will also hold talks with
Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi, as well as his 1994 World Cup teammate, Michael
Emenalo, who is now Chelsea’s assistant coach.

He will also get to watch this Sunday’s English Premier League
clash between Chelsea and Manchester United at London’s Stamford Bridge. “I am
going to watch Chelsea and Manchester United this weekend, he recently posted
on his twitter account. “Will speak to the boys in UK, too.” Siasia will,
thereafter, travel to Turkey where he will meet with Super Eagles defender and
skipper, Joseph Yobo.

Siasia had earlier been scheduled to depart for England last weekend, but
the trip had to be put off for undisclosed reasons. There had been speculation
that the postponement had to do with the unavailability of funds by the Nigeria
Football Federation, but according to a statement made available by the
federation, Siasia had the trip moved a few days.

Isa Bio, the
Minister of Sports, has commended the General Overseer, Mountain of
Fire and Miracles Ministries, Daniel Olukoya, for his contribution
towards the development of sports in Nigeria.

Toyin Aluko, who
represented Bio, during the finals of the 2010 annual Daniel Olukoya
International Youth Football Competition, held at the Yaba College of
Education last weekend, said that she was going to ensure that Bio gets
first hand details of the church’s quest at developing the country’s
youths through sports. “What I’ve seen here is commendable,” said
Aluko, who’s the minister’s special assistant on technical matters.

“I must thank the
MFM General Overseer for empowering the youths through sports. I came
here to represent the minister of sports in an event that I thought was
just a football competition but I was pleasantly surprised to see young
boys and girls doing the 100 metres and the 4×100 metres relays. I saw
future athletes here today. This is the kind of support that we need in
the Ministry of Sports to help us develop sports in Nigeria and I am
glad that MFM is showing the way. As I said before, the minister sent
me here to represent him and I will certainly give him a feedback. One
thing I can assure MFM of is that the sports ministry will be ready to
assist them whenever the need arises as far as sports is concerned in
Nigeria. I must say that I am very pleased with what I’ve seen here
today.”

Winning team

The fourth edition
of the tournament was won by MFM Ikeja, who dethroned the defending
champions, MFM Headquarters, in a pulsating final which ended 2-1. MFM
Benin City won the third-place match by defeating MFM Kwara 3-0 on
penalties after regulation time had ended goalless. Olukoya, who played
the perfect host to top dignitaries that included Super Eagles coach,
Samson Siasia; former Super Eagles goalkeeper,

Peter Rufai; Commonwealth boxing champion, Olusegun Ajose; Athletics
Federation of Nigeria President, Solomon Ogba; and a host of others,
has concluded plans to send the winners and the runners up to Dubai, in
the United Arab Emirates, for a training tour before the end of the
year.

The Assistant Coach
of the Super Falcons, Ann Chiejine, has tipped Perpetua Nkwocha to
emerge as the Glo-CAF Women Player of the Year.

The ceremony comes
up on Monday in Cairo, Egypt, and Nkwocha will be up against the duo of
Stella Mbachu and Ebere Orji. Chiejine, however, feels Nkwocha stands a
better chance of claiming the coveted crown ahead of her compatriots
owing to her superb displays at this year’s African Women’s
Championship in South Africa.

Although Mbachu
carted home the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award, Nkwocha
finished as the top scorer. And Chiejine, who was for well over a
decade the Super Falcons’ number one goalkeeper, believes finishing as
the championship’s top scorer gives Nkwocha an edge over Mbachu and
Orji, who was one of the stars at this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World
Cup in Germany. “Nkwocha was the highest scorer at the tournament that
gave Nigeria an unprecedented 6th Women Nations Cup title; and besides,
she really played very well and motivated the team,” said Chiejine, who
was voted best Women Football Player in 1998, a year she kept a clean
slate at the tournament hosted by Nigeria.

Nigeria is best

Chiejine also
expressed delight that the three shortlisted nominees are Nigerians.
“It is proof that we are truly the best country in African women
football,” she said. “It is confirmation that Nigeria is far ahead of
the rest in women football.” She also predicted that Nigeria will
clinch the award for the Best National Women Football Team category
where they will be up against Nigeria’s U-20 women’s team, the
Falconets and former African champions, Equatorial Guinea, a side she
dismissed as, “just listed to make up the numbers”. “We are far better
than them,” she said. Nkwocha won the African award back in 2004 and
2005, while Cynthia Uwak was the last Nigerian to claim the award in
2007, a follow-up to her 2006 win. South Africa’s Alice Matlou won the
2008 edition while the award was not presented in 2009 as there was no
continental competition.

Gyan confident

Meanwhile, Ghana
International, Asamoah Gyan, is confident that his country will once
again produce another African Player of the Year, 18 years after Abedi
Pele Ayew’s feat. Gyan, who plays for English side Sunderland, said his
nomination for the Glo-CAF African Footballer of the Year award will
compensate Ghanaians who have agonized over the inability of Michael
Essien to clinch the coveted title after five successive nominations
between 2005 and 2009. “I am grateful to God for the nomination,” Gyan
told BBC Radio. “I also believe I have done enough to win.”

The Ghanaian international, who joined Sunderland from Rennes of
France, described his nomination as befitting reward for his
contributions to country and club. “It shows that there is reward for
consistency and dedication,” he said. “I was very outstanding at the
Nations Cup in Angola, did well at the World Cup in South Africa and
here at Sunderland, I could not have had a better start at a new club.
All these have combined to put in me a strong position to win the
African Player of the Year.”

Nigeria’s only
surviving team at the ongoing 25th edition of the Africa Champions Cup
for men taking place in Cotonou, Benin Republic, Kano Pillars, say they
are looking beyond today’s quarter final clash with Cameroonian side,
Condor Basketball Club.

No Nigerian team
has ever played in the finals of the continent’s biggest club
championships. However, Kano Pillars, who are the champions from
Nigeria and also Zone 3 champions, hope to make history by first
winning today’s’ tie and making progress in the competition. Pillars
and Nigeria senior national team guard, Abubakar Usman, said the real
battle for the soul of the African title just began with the
quarter-final fixtures.

Team charge

Usman charged his
teammates to go all out against the Cameroonians who proved book-makers
wrong last Sunday to end the invincibility of the defending champion,
Primeiro de Agosto Basketball Club. He declined to comment on the
strength of their Cameroonian opponents, and is optimistic that Pillars
would be able to do the job of getting past them. He held that Pillars
always respect every opponent but would approach the game with all
seriousness from the jump-ball to the buzzer. “We are happy with the
quarter-finals pairing and the game will be treated with all
seriousness as we cannot afford to drop the game at this stage of the
competition, which is about the most important aspect of any
competition because the loser never get another opportunity to right
the wrongs committed,” he said. “Though we respect Condor like every
other team, especially when they are the only side to have defeated
Primeiro de Agosto in the last three years of the Africa Champions Cup,
that alone is enough morale booster for them but we shall do everything
possible to stop them on Friday. Our team is made up of tested players
who know what it takes to play a team like Condor and our bench knows
what to do at every given time as we match on to the African title.”

Fine run

Pillars were
invincible in the first round where they not only topped their group
but also maintained a hundred percent record a feat no other team
achieved. Condor beat another Nigerian side, Royal Hoopers Basketball
Club on Wednesday in both sides’ last Group-B game by 60-49 points.
Other quarter-finals pairings billed for today pitches Inter-Club
against AS Sale, while Manga play defending champion, Primeiro de
Agosto. ASB Mazembe will battle Maxaquene in the last quarter-final
pairing at.