PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012
PAGE 47
DSTV Men’s B’ball: Dodan Warriors’ coach Group plans to attributes team’s victories to determination develop tennis
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at grassroots
deka Daudu, the Coach of Dodan Warriors Basketball Club of Lagos, has attributed the team’s unbeaten run in the ongoing DSTV Men’s Basketball League to determination and hard work. Dodan Warriors on Sunday defeated the Police Baton Basketball Club of Lagos 7670 to record its seventh successive win of the season and remains unbeaten in the contest. The highly competitive encounter saw the host Police Baton taking the first quarter 15-13; while Warriors claimed the second and third, 23-18 and 25-21 respectively. The Police won the last quarter of the game with just a point 16-15 but this was not enough to turn the match around in their favour. It would be recalled that the league, which is in its seventh week, has featured 28 matches so far and Daudu said the game against the Police was almost evenly matched. “I have to confess that the Police gave us a run for our money, but we are not
ready for any loss this season,” he said. According to him, the team is out this season to clinch all the available points at stake in its bid to emerge as winners of the coveted league trophy. The coach of the Police team, Mark Balogun, described their loss to the Warriors as unfortunate. “It is so unfortunate that we could not win this game because my players had put in their best. The truth is that in spite of the loss, I was impressed with their performance,” he said.
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London 2012: Coaches demand foreign training tours for boxers
oxing coaches say there is the need to expose boxers, currently in camp in Benin City, to competitions to prepare them adequately for the 2012 London Olympics. Already, the 20 boxers who were invited to camp in Benin in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics qualifiers, have been sweating it out in preparations for the different qualifying competitions. Accordingly, coaches have advised that training tours should be arranged to expose the boxers and hone their skills to achieve good results in the forthcoming Olympics. Sunday Nwamuda, a grassroots boxing coach, advised the coaches in camp to test the quality of the selected boxers by pitting them against skilled boxers, in competitions. He said Nigeria stood a good chance of winning medals at the Games if the best boxers were selected to participate. “We cannot afford to take the less competent boxers to the Olympics when we have numerous talents. Our country has many good boxers and the only way to identify the best among them is to organise competitions and test their skills within and outside the country. “Let the gate be opened in the camp to try other talents and whosoever that is beaten should be dropped; those to represent us must be the best,” the coach said Nwamuda also flayed the culture of inadequate funding and late preparations for competitions, saying the development
Grace Daniels
had adversely impacted on sports development. “If 10 per cent of what is given to football is invested in boxing, it (boxing) will rise beyond expectations. Government should reach out to individuals and corporate organisations and seek for sponsorships, if it cannot finance boxing again,” he said Another boxing trainer, Paul Nwachi, said that a national boxing team was long overdue. “Let’s go round the country and source for talents who are qualified to be in the national team; forget about hand- picking and the fire brigade approach we adopt whenever there is a competition,” he said. Nwachi urged boxing administrators to take boxers in camp on training tours and expose them to other champions outside the country to test their skills before the Olympics. “We still have time, let’s train those boys in camp well and open them to
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Dodan Warriors Basketball team in action
national and international assessments before the Olympics for everybody to be
bel Ubiebi, Coordinator of the Ace Tennis Services (ATS), has said that the group will embark on the development of tennis at the grassroots in the second quarter of this year. Ubiebi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the programme would enhance the development of tennis in the country. “I believe that for tennis to grow, it has to start from the grassroots where the basics would be taught with the right techniques. “Such planned programmes will also improve the standard of play whereby players will learn the game in a more practical approach,” he said. He said that the group was seeking partnership with some unnamed companies with a view to getting them to sponsor events and in the process attract quality participants. “I hope to make a bigger impact in grassroots tennis as I have visited a few companies that will help in the sponsorship of the training programme. “Also with the support of the Nigeria Tennis Federation and the mass media, we hope to bring out the best in grassroots tennis,” Ubiebi said.
satisfied that the boys are up to the task ahead,” he said.
Nigerian boxer at the Beijing Games
…Nigeria’s medal chances bleak in badminton, Agarawu declares
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former national badminton player, Tunde Agarawu, says Nigeria’s chances in badminton at the London 2012 Games was daily becoming bleak because preparations have been inadequate. Agarawu, who decried the neglect of the game, says the future of the game in the country was not looking bright due to the failure of the authority to have proper focus and vision for the game. “Nigeria cannot do very well at the Olympics because it (badminton) is not a game of chance. There has to be preparation because it is not a child’s play. It is based on exposure and training. Nigerian players will attend three or four championships and expect to gain points. It is never done that way. “We go to the Olympics most time by virtue of gaining a slot in Africa. They get there thinking they can scale through, not
Agarawu also said that those with the with the likes of China, the U.S. and interest of the sport at heart should be Switzerland taking part in the game. “I am not saying we do not have quality appointed to develop it. players but when they do not attend enough championships to gain points, how can they do well?,” he said. The former player said that the federation needed to arrange training tours for the players. According to him, the players need to train with well exposed foreign players to prepare them for the task ahead. “I think it is time we had a rethink and help the players. To do well at the Olympics, we need to take our players on foreign tours go and dump them in the midst of exposed players. That is when we can know our lapses and improve,” he said. Nigeria’s badminton medal hope, Grace Daniel