Retired Capt. Atanda Fatai, representing technical officials on the board of the Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF), on Thursday said the country would soon produce two International Hockey Federation (FIH) umpires.
Fatai made the assertion in an interview with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja when outlining the achievements of the NHF technical committee.
He said that the committee was dedicated to taking Nigeria’s hockey to global standard with its innovative techniques.
“Our technical officials are doing well and we could have additional two FIH umpires.
“The pair of Jibrin Kolo and Ebitemi Sampor will do well at the hockey African Cup of Nations (ACN) coming up in Egypt.
“We have Sam Fagunwa who operated as a tournament officer during the recent World Hockey League (WHL) in South Africa,’’ Fatai said.
The retired captain, who scored hockey management in Nigeria high, identified lack of sponsorship as its major challenge.
He said that the game would attain the desired position if special attention given to “Class A’’ games like football and basketball was accorded it.
“Our major constraint is sponsorship and we only need a little of what soccer, basketball and other “A’’ sports are getting and the difference will be clear.’’
FIH umpires are internationally certified persons with authority to make decisions on a hockey pitch in accordance with the rules of the game.
NAN reports that Africa Hockey Federation (AFH) announced Egypt as the host of African Cup of Nations scheduled to hold from Oct. 19 to Oct. 29.
However, the competing countries for the 2017 ACN are Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia.