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Tag: Yakmut

  • RIO 2016 OLYMPICS: Yakmut reveals strategy for medals’ haul

    RIO 2016 OLYMPICS: Yakmut reveals strategy for medals’ haul

    The Director-General, National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut has highlighted the plans being put in place that will ensure that Nigerian athletes perform more than expected at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.

    Nigeria failed to win a medal at the London 2012 Olympics, the first time in Olympic history since 1988 and Yakmut believes that such performance won’t be repeated considering the approach to the Games this year.

    “In 2012, I was the deputy Chief de Mission and I knew exactly what went wrong. There was a loose responsibility given to federations to run their preparation. Two weeks to the Olympics when we put them together in Surrey which was just some few kilometres from the Games Village was when we realised that there were so many internal issues in each federation.

    “One, there was a situation where even in athletics the athletes were not in good terms with the coaches and some athletes didn’t want some of the coaches to take them. Some athletes had some specific coaches they wanted. These issues should not come up when you are going to a battle ground like the Olympics. And some athletes were complaining that they had outstanding welfare allowances that were not paid and we were already in the battleground.

    “Anyway, for 2016, if you look at Athletics for instance, Nigeria has qualified for the Olympics in 14 different events, with 14 athletes and two relays. Now in this two relays, 4×4 women as of 2015, it was Nigeria’s quartet in 4×4 women that was ranked the 3rd best in the world. Will you start saying that that particular team is not already preparing for the Olympics?

    “So the NSC has developed a strategic document for the  Minister which has been presented. That for athletics, not all the events will be assembled in one place. If there is a particular place where there is an excellent facility for long jump, go there and there is a coach you attach there.  Prepare the facility, hire the coach, prepare the environment for them. There is a particular centre which Solomon Ogba has confirmed to me, that they have identified where the 4×4 relay will prepare and who will prepare them. Already Charlton Ehizuelen has been working on a particular long jumper for the past two years and it is one of the hidden agendas of the federation to be sure that we do not have a barren performance in 2016.

    “The wrestler, Adekuoroye (Odunayo), we sent her to Houston for the World Championship and that was where she qualified. She picked the qualification and I had a heart to heart discussion with the federation President, Daniel Igali and he said the best place to prepare that girl and two other wrestlers and sparing wrestlers will be Canada. This is the kind of strategy that we are having. You don’t expect us to be assembling people at the National Stadium Abuja or somewhere in Lagos.

    ‘We have two team sports that have qualified, Basketball and the Under-23 male football. Already coach Samson Siasia is tidying up the training programme with the NFF and soon it will be handed over to the Sports Commission for onward transmission to the  Minister for further directive and sources of funds,” he assured.

  • NPFL: Yakmut hails LMC

    NPFL: Yakmut hails LMC

    The Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC),  Alhassan Yakmut, has hailed the leadership quality of the  Shehu Dikko led board of the League Management Company (LMC), organisers of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for raising the standard of the game.

    Yakmut, who was in Ilorin for the University of Ilorin 21km Marathon Race, said the LMC board had brought  enviable strides and sanity to football in the country.

    The D-G, who spoke with newsmen in Ilorin yesterday on  issues bordering on the development of sports in Nigeria, maintained that the LMC had taken the players welfare seriously and had reduced the desperation of wanting to win the league at all cost.

    “I am very jealous of the Nigeria Premier league under Shehu Dikko because they have broken some of my records.

    “I can see determination for innovation; I can see determination to confront elements that are trying to set the clock of development of the league backward.

    “I think generally the Nigeria premier league is on the right path of development,” Yakmut said.

    The former Nigeria Premier league (NPL) Executive Secretary, said the only issue remaining to be addressed is that of government ownership of some of the clubs.

    “We must commercialise our clubs and make the government own a stake or buy shares into teams and not full ownership of it.

    “Until this is done, our clubs will continue to be an extension of public agencies,” Yakmut said.

  • Team Nigeria’s performance has been good so far, says Yakmut

    Team Nigeria’s performance has been good so far, says Yakmut

    Alhassan Yakmut, Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), on Tuesday in Brazzaville said Team Nigeria’s performance at the ongoing 11th African Games in Congo had been good so far.

    Yakmut, who was at the Makelekele Gymnasium to watch the Nigerian women beat their Gabonese counterparts in basketball, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Nigeria’s current standing was expected.

    NAN reports that Egypt and South Africa now appear to be out of sight for Nigeria on the medals table, in terms of position and number of medals won.

    “Team Nigeria has maintained its character, that of always coming up in the last few days of the competition.

    “Most of our best events are always held toward the end of the Games. So, right now, our medals haul has been improving, and it is `so far, so good’,” Yakmut said.

    He, however, acknowledged that Team Nigeria was out of contention for the first two places on the medals table.

    “First or second position is no longer possible for us, even though we are winning many medals now and we are going to win more.

    “The problem is in the fact that we didn’t take advantage of some areas, such as fencing, while badminton didn’t give us what we expected.

    “Athletics, particularly, has not given us what we should have and that has been disappointing,’’ the NSC D-G said.

    He, however, praised the efforts of Team Nigeria in cycling and boxing, saying boxing had been the best for the Nigerian team so far.

    Yakmut also pointed out that the country has a future in cycling with the Games’ performance.

    The Games will end on Saturday.

  • Yakmut counts Youth Games’ blessings

    Yakmut counts Youth Games’ blessings

    • Says Nigeria has enough reservoir of athletes

    Chairman, National Youth Games Organising Committee, Mallam Al-Hassan Yakmut is thrilled with the successes recorded by the Games so far.

    The Director of Grassroots Development of the National Sports Commission said that the timely intervention by the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi and the Director General of the National Sports Commission to organise this competition as a fall out of the Presidential Sports Retreat of 2012 has now recorded pool of talents that would take Nigerian sports by storm in the next four years.

    “I would say it has been so far so good in terms of performance of the athletes (that are between 13 and 17) as at today (Tuesday) which is the third day of the competition. Sincerely speaking with the feelers we are getting, this country has been shortchanged for too long as regarded the absence of a well established youth programmes.

    “I am using this medium to commend the Honourable Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and the Director General of the National Sports Commission for their tenacity on the initiatives that led to the First Edition of the National Youth Games. As a result Nigerian youths has been given a technical sports voice through this Games. I am happy that it is an annual event.

    “Could you imagine within three days we have been able to conclude six sports? I think it’s an achievement. Although 657 out of 2,937 athletes have been wielded out because of their complications with date of birth and age brackets. Despite this the game has not lost its focus and it has achieved its objectives going by the selected athletes that are already competing. Volleyball, handball, basketball, weightlifting, boxing, taekwondo and squash have been a success story because of the number of talents discovered.

    “At the end of the Games we will give Nigerians the statistics of the athletes that have been discovered and what will be done with them”, he told Sportinglife yesterday.