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Tag: organisers

  • Grassroots Tennis: Organisers vow to give scholarship

    Grassroots Tennis: Organisers vow to give scholarship

    The Third edition of the FAAN Staff Club, U-14 Tennis Tournament has continued to gather momentum as youngsters showcase their skills at the event, which will certainly attract a scholarship to a Tennis Academy in South Africa for the overall winners.

    Meanwhile,the duo of Mathew Abamu and Marylove Edward have won the third edition of the tennis tourney. Mathew Abamu defeated his cousin, Raymond Abamu in two straight sets in the boys category while Marylove Edward was the cynosure of all eyes in the girl’s U-12 and U-14 categorgy. Edwards defeated Toyin Asogba and Oyiza Malcubu in both categories.

    Speaking with the Captain of the tennis section of the club, Segun Sopitan, he said players  had to show their birth certificates to make them eligible for the completion. According to Sopitan, it was strictly for fourteen- years old and twelve-year old kids.

    “This is our age grade developmental tennis event is the third edition.We started in 2011 but Ebola didn’t allow us hold the third edition last year.

    “Some of our players are now plying their trade in South Africa, while the runner up for the previous edition is playing in the junior circuit. We are proud that they came through the process and we hope to bring more junior tennis players into the circuit.”

    Sopitan added that the championship  has the backing of a Tennis academy in South Africa.

  • Organisers open entries for Headies 2015

    Founder of the annual Headies Awards, Ayo Animashaun, has said that entries are now open for the 2015 edition of the awards, coming up later in the year.

    He revealed that the award will only accept audio or visual materials released between July 2014 and June 2015.

    He said: “We have come a long way in celebrating the Nigerian music industry and the outstanding talents that have contributed to the growth we see today. This is the 10th edition of the Headies and so it is a celebration. We are constantly exploring new, exciting and ground breaking ideas to make this event bigger than it has become and this edition will be better than last year’s.”

    According to the Smooth Promotions CEO, all entries are to be submitted online via the awards website on www.the headies.com between August 11 and September 15.

    The 2014 edition of the Headies was held at the Convention Centre, Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on Sunday December 14, 2014 and was attended by notable artistes like Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, Davido, Psquare, MI, Rita Dominic, and Dakore Egbuson among others.

  • The return of slaves: Organisers call for entries

    The crazinisT artisT, in collaboration with the Department of Painting and Sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is calling for volunteers to participate in a performance project, The Return of the Slaves which will hold within the Elmina Slave Dungeon from Friday, July 3rd to Saturday 4th. The Return of the Slaves will be a 12-hour durational performance staged overnight from 6:00 pm to 6:00am as an enactment of contemporary human slavery and the series of human violence within and outside Africa. Deadline for registering is May 25.

    A statement by the organizers says the performance will investigate the ostensible ‘Dungeons without Wall’ as a social process in our contemporary time. The performance evokes the unpleasant objectification of humanity as an institutional or private patronage and consumption of the body in relation to time, displacement and redefinition of cultural identity.

    Applicants should be at least 18 years and not older than 55 years by 28th June. All are eligible to participate regardless of their protected characteristics: culture, race, genders, sexuality, disability, nationality, ethnicity and religion. Participation is accepted from any kind of professions who are interested in the project. You don’t have to be an artist to apply. But participants should not the followings:

    *Participants will stay in the slave dungeon from Friday, 6:00pm to Saturday, 6:00am (12 hours overnight) with loosed chains on their hands and legs,

    *Participants are not to communicate verbally during the 12-hour stay but they will be free to move within the dungeon,

    *Participants will wear only red wrappers around their waist and on the breast (females),

    *Participants are not to exit until the end the performance,

    *No physical pain will be inflicted,

    *The public will be able to view performance in the dungeon by lantern or torchlight only.

  • Organisers rue Nigeria’s absence at Mauritius Open

    Organisers rue Nigeria’s absence at Mauritius Open

    The Organising Committee (OC) of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Junior Circuit tagged Mauritius Open, has regretted the absence of one of Africa’s superpowers in table tennis – Nigeria, describing it as a setback to the continent.

    A member of the OC, Rajessen Desscann   told SportingLife at the weekend that the inability of Nigeria to send a team to the competition may have discouraged other African countries to withdraw their team.

    “Nigeria is a well respected nation when it comes to table tennis and for us in Mauritius, we see Nigeria as a role model because of the successes they have achieved in the sport not only in Africa but in the world. They have ways of producing players and this has continued with the recent feat achieved by Aruna Quadri. We were expecting them to come and give some of the Asian and European countries a challenge for the title but at the last minute, they had to inform us of their absence. This is not too good for Africa because if we are organising such international competition in Africa, our brothers in the continent should be able to attend and Nigeria is a major force in the sport,” Desscann lamented.

    He added that players from Seychelles and, Mauritius, were eagerly looking forward to see Nigerian players in action but their expectation was thwarted when the news of Nigeria’s absence was broken to them.

    Also, the ITTF-approved referee of the tournament, Egypt’s Nabil Almamoon, said  the tournament would have afforded Nigerian players the opportunity to garner experience from playing European and Asian teams. “It is unfortunate that Nigeria could not send their players to this kind of tournament because this would have afforded their players the chance to test their might with players from Europe and Asia because Japan, Sweden and France were here and they have good players who will in future be top stars in the world. I think Nigeria has the wherewithal to ensure that they plan ahead for this kind of competition so that they can expose their young players to international competitions like this,” the ITTF official said.

  • Nesiama give kudos to Okpekpe organisers

    Nesiama give kudos to Okpekpe organisers

    The Technical Director of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, has poured encomiums on the organisers of the annual Okpekpe 10km Road Race.

    Nesiama said for the organisers to have been consistent for the past three years, it shows that they know what they are doing.

    “We need to encourage our marathoners and that is the reason we have been involving them in our programmes,” Nesiama said.

    “I am using this opportunity to give kudos to the organisers of the Okpekpe Road Race. They have been giving their all to organise a befitting meet for the past three years and I am happy for their efforts.”

    Speaking further, he said so many organisations have been coming to the federation to organise international meets like the Okpekpe Road Race, but they have failed to meet up with the requirements.

    The Naval officer said: “Lots of organisers want to come around and have competitions, but most of them cannot meet up with the requirements needed.

    “We have had issues in the past where promoters held meets and they were unable to pay the athletes even the foreign athletes and the federation was sanctioned for it.

    “There was a time IAAF almost sanctioned AFN because of issues like this, but we never experienced that with the Okpekpe meet.”

    He, however, declared that the federation will continue to give support to the organisers and any organisation that wants to organise a good meet.

  • Organisers begin preparation

    Organisers begin preparation

    Preparation for  the third edition of the annual Okpekpe Road Race has begun, according to the organisers of the event.

    The coordinator of the event and former international, Yusuf Alli, who disclosed this to our correspondent, said the organisers decided to start preparation early because of their determination to achieve much more this time than the two previous editions.

    “Between now and May, I will be going to the venue more than 10 times because we need to perfect everything. We have already pencilled down some top athletes that will be competing at this year’s event because our target now is to get the Gold Label.

    “If you look at all the races in Africa now, Okpekpe race is the only one with a label, but we don’t want to stop at Bronze Label, we are targeting Gold Label and we need to put so many things in place to achieve that,” Alli said.

    Speaking further, the former quarter miler said they were putting the necessary things in place to hasten the conferment of the Gold Label.

    “Before a race can be awarded a Gold Label, there must be at least six nations taking part in it, also athletes with Gold Label and we have already pencilled down 12 of such athletes that we hope will be part of this year’s edition.

    “If we can achieve that, then before the end of the year, we can get the Gold Label from the International Association of Athletics Federations.”

    It would be recalled that the IAAF conferred the IAAF Bronze Label status on the 10km Road Race last year. The IAAF said in a release to the organisers that: “We have reviewed your application for an IAAF Road Race Label.We are pleased to inform you that your race has been awarded a Bronze Label for 2015.

    “We remind you that all requirements included in the Road Race Label Regulations must be met in order to be considered for an IAAF Label the following year.”

    The maiden edition of the Okpekpe International Road Race was organised by the Edo State government under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomole in 2013.

    Since inception, more than 200 top athletes from across the globe have been part of the race, which Moses Massai of Kenya won the maiden edition in a time of 29 minutes, 39 seconds.

  • Organisers unveil plans for CARNIRIV 2014

    Organisers unveil plans for CARNIRIV 2014

    Barring any hiccup in arrangements, this year’s edition of popular Rivers State carnival, otherwise called CARNIRIV is set to be a great improvement on the previous editions, as the organisers have announcedsome innovations such as the introduction of the Miss CARNIRIV beauty pageant, the launch and deployment of state-of-the-art stage as well as increased exposure for local artistes to perform on the same stage with international stars.

    The CARNIRIV holds from December 14to 20, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    At a media interactive forum in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last Thursday, the Director-General and CEO of the Rivers State Tourism Development Agency, Dr. Sam Dede, said: “This year, we are set to introduce our state-of-the-art stage spanning 140 feet and reputed as the biggest of its kind in Africa. The stage has the capacity to hold a large collection of performers at once and withstand heavy duty equipment and stage accessories. The stage will also be deployed, for the first time, for the benefit of sponsors in the areas of branding and related purposes.”

    Dede, an award-winning actor and lecturer, also stated that over 500,000 participants, consisting residents, tourists, fun lovers and representatives of corporate bodies, would converge on Port Harcourt during the one-week period of the carnival tagged “ One love, one people”.

    “We have opened up the carnival for commercial exploitation from interested corporate bodies by packaging at least 12 signature carnival events into stand-alone brands for category sponsorships. Each category sponsor is entitled to multiple levels of commercial and non-commercial exploitations such as publicity, speaking opportunities, branding, the distribution of company mementos and other forms of corporate canvassing,”  he said.

    Also speaking, the chairman of the Board of Rivers State Tourism Development Agency, RSTDA, Deacon Vincent Erinwo, assured that the RSTDA would judiciously expend all funds released by the government for the purpose of the carnival. According to him, “We at the RSTDA have been given a matching order not only to put the scare funds to the best use, but to also seek sponsorship and collaborations from both corporate and non-corporate organisations to make the carnival a self- sustaining annual exercise in line with the vision of the state government.”

    Since it made its debut in 1988, no fewer than 12 major events are held every year to the delight of indigenes, participants and visitors who throng Port Harcourt for the one-week carnival. It covers 14 kilometres of street parade made of colourful displays and entertainment for people of all ages.

    According to the organisers, some of the signature events of the carnival set to return this year include: Kids carnival, Praise jam, Dance of fireflies, Keera( rhythm of the tribes) Egelege (champion of the sand arena), Hosh jam, International Aquatic Fiesta, Black African Musical Festival (BAMFEST), Reggae 360, International Heritage Parade, Garden City free style parade and World Peace Concert.

  • MEGA: Organisers chart new path for gospel music in Nigeria

    MEGA: Organisers chart new path for gospel music in Nigeria

    Although this year’s edition of the annual interactive music workshop organised by the Music and Entertainment Gospel Awards (MEGA) has come and gone, its beautiful memory will continue to linger in the minds of the participants, particularly because of the salient discourses which were aimed at rewriting the story of the gospel music in Nigeria.

    At the event held last Wednesday, The Coordinator of the workshop, Femi Akintunde-Johnson, aka FAJ, stated that gospel music in Nigeria is lacking in terms of adequate media representation. He, therefore, called on media professionals to rise to the occasion by providing the needed coverage for gospel activities.

    Also, the CEO of Xclusive 2 Divinity(X2D) TV, Deji Irawo, urged Gospel music artistes in Nigeria to eschew conflict and embrace unity.

    According to him, “We claim to sing about the love of Jesus, which is the good news. But how can you give what you don’t have? If we are supposed to sing about love and we don’t have love among us, then, there is a bit of hypocrisy somewhere. We need to address those issues. I think this generation needs to rise and do something different.”

    The first session treated the topic, “Probing the Urgent Question: Why Do We Create Music?”, while the second discussed “Providing the Cogent Answers: Why They Create Music”.

    Present at the workshop were top-rated gospel music artistes and industry practitioners, including multiple award-winning producer and instrumentalist, Wole Oni; veteran broadcaster, Tokunbo Ojekunle and award-winning songwriter and vocalist, Lara George, among others.

  • BBA: Organisers find new venue

    BBA: Organisers find new venue

    •Announce new launch date

    Barely two weeks after a fire outbreak was recorded at the venue of the Big Brother Africa reality TV show, the organisers of the show, M-Net and Endemol, have confirmed that this year’s edition tagged Big Brother Hotshots will officially be launched on Sunday, October 5, having found a new house in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    The search, according to the M-Net’s management, was concluded after exploring all possible options, both locally and internationally, for a suitable venue to produce the ninth season of the Africa’s biggest reality show.

    It will be recalled that on Tuesday, September 2, the Big Brother house was razed by fire, thereby causing M-Net and Endemol SA to postpone its launch, which had earlier been scheduled for Sunday, September 7.

  • Organisers acquire new venue for BBA

    Organisers acquire new venue for BBA

    There appears to be leeway for this year’s edition of the popular Big Brother Africa (BBA) show called the Hotshots edition, following the suspension of the programme, due to a fire incident on the property last Tuesday.

    In a statement made available yesterday, producers of the reality show, M-Net and Endemol, assured fans that the event would return soon, as a new venue had been acquired.

    “Following the devastating fire on September 2, at the Big Brother house in Johannesburg, M-Net and Endemol SA had spent the last 48 hours searching both locally and internationally for a venue in which to produce Season 9 of the highly popular Big Brother Africa reality show. After exploring all possible options, the team is delighted to announce that the show will go on as a venue has been found to get the show on air within the next month,” the statement read.

    This year’s show was meant to start penultimate Sunday, until the fire incident, which was said to have gutted about 56 cameras, the special one-sided glass panels and other state-of-the-art equipment.

    M-Net and Endemol said the sophistication of these equipment, coupled with logistics, were reasons for the slight delay in resuming the show.

    “A multitude of factors have had to be considered, including the complex technical requirements, logistics, technical crews and satellite link facilities, which have all formed part of the challenge. However, M-Net is delighted to assure all its Big Brother fans that their favourite reality show will launch soon and thanks to fans from across the continent for their support during the last few days,” the organisers explained.