The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC)

  • Nigeria’s Oladapo returns as ITTF Africa VP

    Nigeria’s Oladapo returns as ITTF Africa VP

    • Oshodi becomes regional boss

    Former Secretary General of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Olabanji Oladapo has been returned unopposed as Vice President, Administration of the eight-man Executive Council of ITTF Africa during the Bi-Annual General Assembly (BGM) held in Agadir, Morocco on Tuesday.

    Similarly, the President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi has been elected as the Regional Vice President (Western Region) of ITTF Africa.

    Oshodi, who is also a Member of the Nominations Committee of ITTF will be in charge of the Western region which includes Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. He is expected to coordinate the activities in this region with the aim of developing table tennis.

    Wahid Enitan Oshodi
    Wahid Enitan Oshodi

    Oladapo was elected alongside the President, ITTF Africa, Egypt’s Khaled El-Salhy in the new executives for another four-year term.

    Khaled El-Salhy, who became the president of the second largest continental body under the ITTF was elected unopposed while Henry Djombo (CGO), Deputy President; Olabanji Oladapo (NGR), Vice President Administration; Hajera Kajee (RSA), Vice President Marketing; Berte Abou Bakary (CIV), Vice President Finance; Monqid Hajji (MAR), Vice President Media and Public Relations and Balla Lo (SEN), Vice President Technical were all elected unopposed.

    For the regional Vice Presidents, Abdennour Kaci (Algeria) takes charge of Northern Region, Wahid Oshodi (Nigeria) is in charge of Western Region, Alfred Bagueka (Cameroon) is for Central Region, Andrew Mudibo (Kenya) to administer Eastern Rgion and Joe Carrim (South Africa) will take control of Southern Region.

    The council members are Kamel Zaitouni (Algeria), Mahmoud Oumar (Djibouti), Jalal Hariz (Libya), Philippe Hao Thyn Voon    (Mauritius), Abdelrahman El-Sallawi (Sudan) and Thomas Kiggundo (Uganda).

    However, two more co-opted members are expected to be added through the ITTF-Africa Executive Council maiden meeting.

    In his acceptance speech, Khaled El-Salhy pledged to uplift the fortune of table tennis in the continent, while calling for more support from national associations. “I am highly honoured to be considered for another term in office and I want to that the congress for their trust and support. We are so ambitious for the future hoping that we can focus on development and marketing of the sport so that we can continue to grow the sport in Africa,” he said.

    Countries that staged major competitions were also honoured for their efforts.

    Over 18 national associations graced the BGM while the congress also commended Morocco for their efforts to stage a befitting ITTF Africa Senior Championships.

    For 2017, Tunisia will host the African Junior and Cadet Championships in April while Congo Brazzaville is considering hosting the ITTF African Cup and Club Championship in July.

  • Poor Rio outing: Calls for sports commission return thickens

    With Team Nigeria’s poor showing at the just concluded Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the call for the return of the scrapped National Sports Commission (NSC) continues to increase.

    Sports buffs believe the official bottleneck in the Ministry of Youth and Sports may have taken its toll on the preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    They believe through the NSC, the bureaucracy can be eliminated to help in terms of preparation of athletes for major competitions.

    Speaking on local television on Monday, Sydney 2000 gold medalist, Enefiok Udo-Obong blamed the bottleneck in the ministry as a major factor to poor showing in Rio.

    The former athlete who was in Brazil for the Olympic Games said it is high time that the sports federations and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) were empowered to run their various sports.

    “I think the idea of the Ministry of Youth and Sports is another major setback to sports because the bottleneck within the ministry has drawn us back in the sports. Funds should be released directly to the federations to run their various sports while the NOC coordinates and supervises them (federations).

    “It is pathetic that Great Britain that finished below Nigeria at the Atlanta 96 Olympic Games now finished second overall ahead of China while Nigeria managed to pick one bronze medal. We need to do something to help our sports at this time,” he said.

    [blog_posts style=”m1″ share=”on” display=”category” category=”109015″ count=”6″ pagination=”on” load_more_count=”3″ ad_count=”3″]

  • Sports ministry officials in a fix over Olympics

    Sports ministry officials in a fix over Olympics

    With the fillers from the Ministry of Sports, things are not to be looking up as far as the Rio Olympic Games is concerned.

    Even most of the staff of the sports ministry are in a fix over the preparation as well as the country’s participation in the Rio Olympic Games.

    Aside the cosmetic preparation being embarked by the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), there has been any tangible planning in place to affirm the country’s readiness for the games.

    NationSport learnt that a top official of the Sports Ministry are also lamenting that things are at a standstill as far as the Olympic Games is concerned.

    “We don’t even know what is happening because we are all in the dark on Rio Olympic Games. Even the recommendation we have made for the ministry to support athletes in their preparation, nothing is yet to materialise. We are just looking up to the next thing and this is really bad with less than 60 days to the commencement of the games in Brazil,” the official who pleaded anonymity lamented.

    Meanwhile, organisers of the Rio Olympics have unveiled the medals that will be competing for in Brazil.

    International Olympic Committee (IOC), President Thomas Bach, who was present at the launch event in Barra Olympic Park, said: “Today marks the start of the final countdown to the first Olympic Games to be staged in South America.”