The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Olalekan Okusan

  • 20 players for NTTF U-16 Super League

    National cadet sensation, Abayomi Animashaun will have his hands full when he compete against 19 other players across the country in the Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) U-16 Super League holding on Saturday May 14 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

    The one-day championship serves as a dress rehearsal for next week’s $46,000 prize money ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open with the players aiming to have a share of the mouthwatering prize money at stake.

    As the climax of the one-week tournament which involved over 100 players across the country, the Super League will have the top 12 (boys) and eight (girls) battle it out for the mouthwatering prize money at stake.

    For the referee of the tournament, John Peters, the championship promises to be explosive as most of the players are targeting places in the national team as well as share from the prize money.

    “I will not be surprise if new players dethrone the established ones because there were surprises during the qualifiers for the Super League. Players we had expected to have easy ride were sent packing while unknown players made it to the Super League. This has surely given us the outlook of what to expect at the one-day tournament. Fans across Lagos and its environs should come around as see another Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri emerging from the championship,” the ITTF blue badge umpire said.

    The Rio 2016 Olympics bound-official added: “I believe the Super League is a dress rehearsal for the main event next week, the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open. This will also afford the young players the opportunity to tune up for the championship and I will not be surprised if any of them causes an upset next week.”

    Meanwhile, the draws for the Super League has been released by NTTF with the 12 boys drawn into four groups with each group made up of three players while the girls were drawn into two groups of four each.

    For the boys, the top two players in each group progress to the quarterfinal stage while the top two players in the girls’ event advance to the semifinal round of the competition.

  • ITTF Nigeria Open: It’s Nigeria time to clinch titles – Toriola

    ITTF Nigeria Open: It’s Nigeria time to clinch titles – Toriola

    Twice Nigerian players have made it to the final of the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open but they have not been able to clinch the title, and with just a few days to the kick off, former African champion, Segun Toriola believes the title will not be beyond the reach of Nigerian players.

    Toriola, a finalist in the 2013 edition of the competition, said he is optimistic that Nigerian players have the wherewithal to claim the laurel but three-time winner, Egypt’s Omar Assar has been ‘extra-ordinary lucky’ to have claimed the titles ahead of the local players.

    “I think Nigerian players have always been capable of winning the title in all the three editions of the competition. It was just that we were unlucky not to have won the title, having made it to the final twice. I played the final in 2013 and Aruna Quadri made it to the final in 2015. Apart from this, Nigerian players have always been making it to the semifinal stage. I believe we can win the title this year because most of the foreign-based players have been doing very well in their various clubs and the skills and talents of the local players cannot be underestimated,” he said.

    The former Commonwealth champion who will be attending his seventh Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil was, however, thrilled with the turnout of players, particularly participants from Europe and this he says would help raise the standard of the sport in Nigeria. “I believe the presence of players across the globe, particularly the ones from Europe will surely help our players who have not been playing against Europeans. The eyes of the world are now on Nigeria with the giant stride the country has made in the last four years by hosting such quality competition. I am hopeful that our players will surely gain from taking part in the tournament and the profile of the sport will continue to improve in the country,” he added.

  • “Nigerian players are threats to my title dream”

    “Nigerian players are threats to my title dream”

    Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin narrowly missed out from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games having attended the last three editions, but the former African champion believes he can use the forthcoming ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open to placate his absence in Brazil.

    Lashin in 2014, he came close to clinching the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open but it was his compatriot, Omar Assar that dented his ambition. But with the absence of Omar Assar this year, Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin is optimistic that the title is within his reach. He however said that Nigerian players remain major threats to his title dream.

    Despite the presence of more European players including star-studded local players from Nigeria, El-Sayed Lashin may be using the title to pacify himself from missing out of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    A confident El-Sayed Lashin said: “I must not forget the talents of Nigerian players because they are very skillful and my target in Lagos this year is to ensure I can improve my ranking better than what I am at present as well as try more this year to win the men’s singles title as much as I can.”

    Being his second visit to Nigeria’s populous city, Lashin is seeing Lagos as a good ground for him to claim his first ITTF World Tour title. “During my first time in Lagos, I finished second in the men’s singles behind Omar Assar and I also settled for second place in the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in 2014 but I hope and believe I can do better this year,” the Egyptian veteran said.

    El-Sayed Lashin is also thrilled with the presence of top European this year in Lagos and he says this would surely add glamour to the championship. “I think this is what has been missing in the competition and now we are having more players coming to coming to compete. I think the level  of  table tennis is going higher  and  this is very good for Nigeria  and  all  players  playing  in this  tournament as it will help their ranking and they will also play against top players,” he added.

    The Egyptian warlord admitted that all players taking part in the tournament have equal chance to win the title while they are all his rivals. “I believe everybody playing in the competition is my rival,” he said.

  • Nigeria misses out from taekwondo wildcard of Rio Olympics

    Nigeria may have missed out from the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) wildcard after the world taekwondo ruling body made known the list of nations for the wildcard slots.

    It would be recalled that the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) said they would apply for wildcard after the four-man team to the continental qualifiers in Morocco failed to win a slot to Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    However, NationSport leaned on Thursday via MasTaekwondo website that WTF has announced Haiti, Nepal, Honduras and Somalia as winners of the wildcard as defined by the Tripartite Commission of Olympic Games.

    According to the website, the four wildcards to Río 2016 Olympic were defined at the preparation Camp of the Olympics Games, in South Korea.

    According to the document scooped by Mas Taekwondo, the weights to each team were: Haiti, in -67kg women, Nepal, in +67kg women, Honduras, in -80kg men, and Somalia, in -58kg men.

    Also the athletes’ names are Faisal Jeylani Aweys of Somalia, Aniya Louissant of Haití, Nisha Rawal of Nepal and Miguel of Honduras. The weight distribution was made by Brazil the host of the Olympic Games which chose the remaining four weights.

    Meanwhile, WTF has confirmed 124 athletes from 60 nations for Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

    In Africa, 11 countries produced the 19 athletes that will compete at the Rio Olympics while Nigeria will be conspicuously missing being the first time the West African giant will not be competing at the Olympic Games since 2004 in Athens, Greece.

  • Tennis: Nigeria beats Egypt to Africa’s sole slot of Rio Olympics

    Tennis: Nigeria beats Egypt to Africa’s sole slot of Rio Olympics

    With the recent ranking released by the world table tennis ruling body, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Thursday, Team Nigeria have secured the continental sole slot of the men’s team event of Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    For this, Nigeria will be part of the 16 countries that will compete for medals in the team event of the Olympic Games as the highest rated team from Africa.

    This development was confirmed based on the May ranking released by the world table tennis ruling body, the ITTF on Thursday with Nigeria’s men being the highest rated team from Africa to beat Egypt to the sole slot.

    According to qualification format, the May 2016 Olympic Team Ranking list is taken into consideration for the team selections at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    And from the rating released in May 2016, Nigeria may have dropped to 27 in the world based on the inactiveness of its players, but the team was ahead of Egypt who was ranked 32.

    Despite dropping from 26 to 27 with 202 points, the West African giant beat Egypt, which has 192 to the sole slot for the continent.

    With this, Nigeria will represent Africa in the men’s team event of the Rio Olympic Games and will compete for medals with 15 other teams from the globe.

    However, Egypt beat Nigeria to the sole slot in the women’s team event as the best rated team from the continent occupying 31st place in the world with Nigeria rated 39th.

    For the second time, Egypt has edged out Nigeria from the women team event of the Olympics after their maiden appearance in the team event of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

    Meanwhile, the President of Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy confirmed this development, but said that ITTF would officially announce the list of qualified teams in few days.

    ITTF has not announced the list of qualified teams yet but I believe that it should be done within the coming 48 hours, but according to the rules for Olympic Games – Team events, each continent is entitled for at least one entry for team event. For Africa Men’s Team : it will be Nigeria as per position (27) compared with the other African teams, Egypt (32) & Congo Brazzaville (35), while for the Women’s Team: it will be Egypt as per position (31) compared with the other Africa teams, Nigeria (39) & Algeria (66).”

    He added: “This is my expectation, and I wish on behalf of ATTF the best of luck for both teams of Nigeria & Egypt to be the perfect ambassadors for our continent in Rio Olympic Games and to qualify for the top eight teams (quarter-finalists).

  • Nigeria premier lotto: ITTF promises fierce competition in Lagos

    From the 81 players from 11 countries that featured in the 2015 ITTF Nigeria Open, this year’s edition has set another record in the entries as 122 players from 16 nations will be competing for the $46,000 prize money at stake.

    Beginning from May 18 to 22 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, players will be aiming for ranking points and targeting places at the end-of-year World Tour finals.

    Attesting to impressive entries for the Premier Lotto-sponsored Nigeria Open, Competition Manager, Mohamed Dawlatly believes the turnout would surely add glamour to the championship.

    “Although it might not be as high as the organizers wanted, but still, it’s better from last year as we now have 122 players from 16 countries compared to 81 players from 11 countries in 2015 which means players are now more interested to attend this important event. Following the last year’s event, I’m expecting some high level of Table Tennis especially with the increase of entries and also with the importance of the event in Nigeria, which can be felt from care and follow-up of the organizers trying to make sure that everything is covered and presented in its best way,” Dawlatly said.

    On his expectations, he said: “As I had mentioned, I’m expecting a high level of competition with the players from 16 countries and also the big number of Nigerian players which we all know how strong and competitive they are.

    “I know that it’s well organized from the Nigeria TTA trying to provide the best possible condition for the player, also I know that Nigerian spectators are very active and loves to support their players, actually I was told by our Marketing Director who attended the last year’s WT that the atmosphere was one of the best he attended in the last years with many spectators excited and supporting their players,” he added.

    Being his first trip, Dawlatly said: “Well, it’s always exciting to visit new countries all over the world and Nigeria is a very special destination for me as a former Egyptian player as we all know that Nigeria and Egypt were and still the top two countries fighting for the African Gold Medals

    One the impact of the presence of European players, he explained: “For sure this is a very good step forward to have those top European countries coming to Lagos for this year’s WT which mean that they followed last years and they feel that it would help them to attend such event, it also helps the event exposure inside Nigeria and World Wide that might help to attract more countries next year and finally it will definitely help those new Nigerian players participating in the event.”

  • 34 athletes confirm for CCSF taekwondo training workshop in Abuja

    34 athletes confirm for CCSF taekwondo training workshop in Abuja

    34 athletes drawn from the six geo-political zone, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja will be part of this year’s Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) Training workshop holding on May 11 to 15.
    The workshop series, which began in 2010 and has since become a watering ground for upcoming future taekwondo champions, with the programme specifically designed to complement the fantastic work being done by coaches all across the country in raising young athletes, by increasing the technical and tactical knowledge of participants.
    According to the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of CCSF, Chika Chukwumerije, “the singular philosophy upon which the CCSF Training Workshop is based is that Nigeria’s young upcoming athletes, despite their seeming clumsiness and gawkiness, possess incredibly explosive sporting and intellectual abilities that only needs to be properly ignited at this tender age in order for these abilities to explode to blinding limelight in a couple of years. To this end, participants are rightly treated like the champions they are, and exposed to the latest equipment/techniques/tactics that they need to excel in the sport.”
    The three-time Olympian added: “It has become easier to highlight the undeniable progress of the program’s vision with recent successes of past participants like 18-year- old Adamu Abubakar Isah and 17-year- old Shola Olowookere (presently Commonwealth Gold Medalists). Yet still, some of the other ex-participants have won the National Youth Games and battle head-to- head with older and more experienced athletes at the various National competitions available in Nigeria. It is also important to note that all participants are in school or strongly encouraged to continue their educational programs, which is in line with CCSF’s vision that prospective champions must also be educated during their journey to becoming champions.
    The Beijing 2008 Olympics bronze medalist said that this year’s edition would continue with its tradition to exposing young athletes to the best training taekwondo drills practised in international circuits, in addition to inspiring the athletes through organizing their interactions with past and present champions in inspirational lecture series.
    Top experts expected to handle proceedings at the five-day event are Chika Chukwumerije, Africa’s first three-time Taekwondo Olympian, and other established National past and current Champions, like 2-time African Champion, Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Binga and 2-time National Champion and 3-time NUGA Gold Medalist, Sani Lawal.
    The feeding and accommodation of the participants would be catered for by CCSF with only U-20 athletes expected to make it to the event holding in Abuja.
  • ITTF Premier Lotto: Portugal leads 14 countries to Nigeria

    ITTF Premier Lotto: Portugal leads 14 countries to Nigeria

    European champion, Portugal will lead 15 other countries across the globe to this year’s ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open (Lagos 2016) serving off May 18 to 22 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

    Seven players made up of five male and two female including women’s singles defending champion, 22 year-old Jieni Shao will champion the campaign for the European giant against top players from Russia, Hungary, Egypt, Finland, Slovakia, Romania, Iran, Mexico, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville, Morocco, Tunisia, Congo DRC and Cameroun.

    Already, 122 players have been listed for the tournament, which has been described by the Competition Manager, Mohammed Dawlatly has encouraging.

    “Although it might not be as high as the organizers wanted, but still it is better from last year as we now have 122 players from 16 countries compared to 81 players from 11 countries in 2015 which means players are now more interested to attend this important event,” the ITTF official said.

    Also listed for the tournament is two-time winner of the ITTF World Tour and Hungary’s most success table tennis star, Hungary’s Szandra Pergel. The Hungarian will be hoping to wrestle for the title against Nigeria’s duo of Edem Offiong and Olufunke Oshonaike.

    In the men’s singles, home-boy, Aruna Quadri will have his hand full when he battles against top players from Europe as well his Egyptian rivals.

    Impressed with the number of participants for this year’s tournament, Tournament Director, Ranti Olajide said this once again confirmed the importance players across the world now attached to the championship.

    “As the highest prize money in the Challenge Series of the ITTF World Tour, more players are now willing to be part of the competition in Lagos. Apart from aiming to share from the prize money, they intend to use the championship to amass points for their world ranking as well as qualify for the end-of-year ITTF World Tour Finals. We are indeed excited about the turnout and we hope this year will be more competitive and glamorous based on the quality of the players coming to Lagos,” Olajide said.

  • UEFA: Iheanacho eyes final berth with Man City

    UEFA: Iheanacho eyes final berth with Man City

    There is no doubt that the 4-2 loss to Southampton may have deflated the confidence of Manchester City, but Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho believes if given chance he could inspire the team to the final of the UEFA Champions League.

    Iheanacho’s brace could not save Man City from losing at St Mary’s on Sunday, but the former Golden Eaglets star is optimistic that they have the wherewithal to turn the table against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Monday.

    “This game is not good preparation for us,” he said. “But we will keep it behind us, focus and train, and go to the Bernabeu and hope we qualify. Unfortunately for me, we lost so the goals didn’t mean anything but I will keep working hard to get some more. If I play, I need to work hard for the team and help them qualify for the final if we get the goals,” he told The Manchester Evening News.

    He added: “I am in with a shot of being involved in Madrid, so I will keep working hard. Nothing is enough in football. I will keep working hard to convince the team that I need to be here. It doesn’t matter where you find yourself, you have to focus and concentrate and work for the team. When the ball falls to you, you have to put it in. It’s going to be a big challenge for us but we will keep our heads down and keep working hard to get there.”

    Coach Manuel Pellegrini will ring changes after resting his top players for the trip to the south coast, but Iheanacho said: “It is a dream come true for me and I am happy if I go there. I hope we do well there and there is a great atmosphere. I haven’t been before, but I am happy to go there to get a win.”

  • Rio Olympic: Nigeria yet to officially begin preparation

    Exactly 98 days to the kick off of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, Nigeria is yet to hit the ground running in terms of its preparation for the sports fiesta.

    Even when some nations like Great Britain and a host of others have started final phase of preparation, there are indications that what befell Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympic may be brewing as there has not been any formal build up to the games.

    Despite the qualifications of athletes in wrestling and table tennis, the sports ministry is yet to officially call the athletes to camp.

    At Seoul 1988 and London 2012 Olympic Games were the two games that Nigeria has failed to win a medal and sports buffs believe anther poor showing is about to happen with the recent development.

    Despite the efforts made after the poor outing at the 2012 London Olympic Games, a sports summit was organized to avert such occurrence again but as things are Nigeria may have returned to the status quo.

    For the Nigeria Wrestling Federation President, Daniel Igali, the preferential treatment given to some sports over others when it comes to getting ready for major championships is worrisome.

    Igali, an Olympics gold medalist said recently that, “The sports authorities feel that the money that could have been used to send athletes for training in preparation for Olympics to bring glory to the country can better be used for an irrigation project. Imagine over N300 million spent on the Eaglets; but yet just N20 million for wrestlers was said to be too much an investment in an Olympic year! This is really sad.”

    Everything seems to be going the wrong way for Nigeria with the Ministry of Sport to be a fixed on how to commence the preparation blaming it on paucity of fund.

    According to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, Nigeria’s preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is been hampered by the inability to account for the N2.9billion released by the Federal Government to the defunct National Sports Commission (NSC) last year.

    The minister said that the money meant for the 2015 All Africa Games as well as the preparations for the Rio2016, could not be properly accounted for which explains why the Federal Government was reluctant in releasing further funds.

    However, the sports minister has promised to take the matter of Nigeria’s preparations for the summer games to the Presidency to avoid a repeat of the failure at London 2012 in Brazil.

    Some of the athletes who spoke with NationSport that nobody should expect miracles from them in Brazil. “It is what you give that you get. I will just try my best in Brazil but nobody should put pressure on me. We thought this minister will bring us good tidings but the man seems to be pre-occupied with constituting of committee for hospitality for the Olympics rather than given attention to athletes who are the actors. I don’t think he understands sports,” the athlete who pleaded anonymity said.

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