London 2012: Nigeria Picks Loughborough University For Camping

Determined to ensure Nigeria athletes’ hits it big at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, has selected one of the best training camps for Team Nigeria.

Team Nigeria would use the Loughborough University as preparation camp prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

President of the NOC, Engineer Sani Ndanusa who announced this after the executive meeting of the NOC held weekend at the ANOCA Headquarters in Abuja said that the camp site rates among the best with its world class facilities and is the country's leading University for sport.

Team Great Britain is also expected to use the state of the art facilities to prepare for the Games. The University has been the base for preparation for British Olympians.

The NOC President who is also the President of Nigeria Tennis Federation said that the welfare of athletes was instrumental to getting the camp for Team Nigeria.

"Our number one priority is to ensure that Nigerian athletes have the best possible preparation environment. We are confident that Loughborough University's excellence in the field of sport will be of huge benefit to Team Nigeria’s aspiration of performing creditably at the Games".

Besides Nigeria and Great Britain, Loughborough University would also host the Japanese Olympic team prior to the 2012 Olympic Games.  The co-location of major teams would create a unique environment, with Loughborough likely to have the highest concentration of Olympic activity.

Abinuwa Wins Gold In New Mexico

… As Noah Akwu, Egwero Return To Track

Africa Senior Athletics Championship gold medalist, Endurance Abinuwa claimed victory Saturday as UTEP turned in an impressive showing in the New Mexico Invitational Indoor Track & Field meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

In the women’s 200m, Abinuwa vastly improved her time from two weeks ago to 23.90 from 24.22 to take third in the event.

She posted the fastest qualifying time of 39 runners in the women's 60-meter dash (7.44 seconds), and then bettered that by winning the finals in a time of 7.34.

Abinuwa had clocked a time of 7.45 two weeks ago on the same track during the Miners’ season opener at the Lobo Open.

Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee quarter-miler Noah Akwu shined on Saturday at the 2011 Rod McCravy Memorial meet in Lexington, Ky. Akwu earned a personal-best time of 47.49 in event that is expected to be among the best in Sun Belt Standings this year, a time that was almost a half second better than is standing season-best time.

Akwu, who entered the weekend 29th in the NCAA, unofficially sits as the 13th fastest time in the nation.

While ECOWAS U23 gold medalist, Ogo Ogho Egwero made 6.64 in the B final 60m dash at the Chemnitz: 14.45 WTJ for Demut & Lavillenie over Mohr.

Nigeria Sports Officials Are Not Sincere-Etinosa

2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Etinosa Eriyo, in this interview says Nigeria sporting officials are not sincere when it comes to team selection for championships.

The Edo state born special sports athlete insists Nigeria has the materials to make it at the international level but attributes lack of fund, inadequate preparations, tribalism as some of the factors militating against Nigerian sports.

Bio-data

My name is Etinosa Eriyo, a Nigerian naturalized Australian who is also special sports athlete. I was born and grew up in Benin City, Edo state where I had all schooling and I had the idea of being an athlete at a very tender age because I love running.

I started in 2002 with the national championships in Calabar and later represented Edo state in two National Sports Festivals before representing Nigeria at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Events Attended in Nigeria Colors

I attended the national championships in Calabar where I won 2 silver medals in the 100 and 200m dash. I was also at the 2002 National Sports Festival in Edo State where I won 2 gold and a silver medal in the 100m, 200m and 400m respectively.

In the Abuja 2009 edition, I won 2goal medals in the 100 and 200m while I represented the country in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and I got a bronze medal in the 100m sprint.

Leaving Nigeria for Australia

Well I have been competing for Nigeria for so many years now and I decided to leave for Australia because Nigeria sports is not growing properly, there are so many things going on in Nigeria sports because the officials not being honest to athletes.

This is killing sports in Nigeria but the officials don’t care at all and this is very bad to sports development.

Nigeria sporting officials don’t do things or select athletes on merit to championships.

I was here for so many years and I was not moving on at all. I was not invited to national camp, not making any team for international competition and I really don’t know their reason for doing that.

 When the opportunity of going to Australia came, I had to go though I know it was not going to be easier at first but I still went and I have been there for five years now and my life now is better than when I was here in Nigeria or competing for Nigeria.

I actually did well when I made the Team to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia where I won a bronze medal for Nigeria and that was when I decided to stay there because the country is good.

On the Athletics Federation of Nigeria

Since I am new and I heard there are new people in the AFN, I really cannot talk on them because I don’t know how far they have gone in re-positioning the sport.

Activities in Australia

I am running a personal business in Australia as a personal trainer; people pay me to train them so it has been good so far.

One thing I will say is that being an Australia citizen does not take Nigeria from me; my families are still here so I will be coming home all the time but right now living in Australia.

May be if I was still in Nigeria, nobody knows I might be begging for money to feed because Nigeria sports officials don’t care about the athletes.

When I was here, I don’t even have a club but today in Australia I have my own house and office and I also have workers but here it was not so.

Can you believe some athletes that saw me came to ask for money from me? That is bad; it shows that the Nigeria sport I left five years ago is still the same in terms of motivating athletes. That is too bad.

We are all citizens of this country and we should be treated equally. In the Western World, all the citizens are the same, rich and poor are the same, they live well. It is so annoying to see people that participated in the same tournament with you still begging to feed. In some countries, it is a pride to wear the country’s kit for competition but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case, I know so many athletes today who did not have the opportunity to travel out of the country, they are not doing well while I still know many that are outside the country doing great for their adopted countries.

Running for Australia

Definitely I will do it because I am now their citizen and at the moment whatever I am doing in life now is Australia.

Contributions and way forward for Nigeria athletes and athletics

Like I said earlier on, I have been in Australia for five years now, I am not rich for now but the only way we can contribute to the betterment of this game is by speaking to the government, the government is in charge of sports, Nigeria makes more money than Australia but Australia is doing better than Nigeria.

The problem with Nigeria is that the government spends the money taking care of themselves not minding the athletes at all or the citizens. Government needs to intervene in different areas to make sure all the sports men and women benefit from the little resources that come to sports.

I was not born in Australia but I have benefited from their government immensely, just because I am now their citizen, I can say whatever I want to say unlike here and like I said before, to contribute has to do with the government because that is where the money is.

The way forward for Nigeria athletics is that government should be pro-active in the development of athletics.

My friend, Nigerian athletes are great but with the way the sport is being manage here, the country is not getting the best.

In 2006 when we were to travel for the Commonwealth Games, I was so disappointed when the government said there was no money to take Nigeria athletes to the Games, some athletes were left behind because of money while some whose names were on the list could not go because they were substituted by officials, was that fair?

In Australia, I went for two major surgeries and the government paid for them, but If it was to be in Nigeria, will I be able to afford it? The answer then will be no because there will be no money.

There were two great former governors that were really championing the growth of athletics in Nigeria then, Chief Nosa Lucky Igbenedion of Edo state and Chief James Ibori of Delta state and also Brown Ebewele is also a great motivator of athletics, if not for Ebewele, I wouldn’t have traveled out of Nigeria and if we can get people like them again, I think Nigeria athletics will be great, because we have the materials to make champions but the funds to make the champions is not coming. My Coach, Aziz also contributed to my athletics success today, I am grateful to these people.

Advice to Nigeria athletes

We know sport is a very difficult thing to do in Nigeria, when I was starting, my parents refused that I should indulge in sports. But now they are happy I went into it.

My advice to Nigeria athletes is that they should try and continue to do what they know best and they should also try and make themselves comfortable at the same time.

We know some Nigeria athletes who travel with team abroad run away, well I won’t blame them, I will use this opportunity to tell them, if they have the opportunity of staying back in abroad after competition, they have my support.

There are so many athletes today who have traveled to more than ten countries for competition but today they are still begging for money because the system does not take care of them, it is bad. I took that decision in 2006 and I am glad I did. So it is left to the athletes to do same.

Nigeria Sets All Africa Games Medal Targets

With the All Africa Games by the coner, the National Sports Commission says the country's target at the Games in Maputo is to win 95 percent of the medals on parade.

Minister of Sports and Chairman National Sports Commission, Professor Taoheed Adedoja disclosed this in Abuja. Adedoja said preparation for the games will start with a local camping on the 15^th of Febuary in eight centres across the country.

The venues for the local camping, he said are Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos, Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Ibadan, Calabar and Asaba. He said Nigeria will be represented by 780 athletes and officials at the games.

He revealed that the Commission has budgeted N3.3 billion for the games which will hold in July Maputo, Mozambique, saying the money will be spent on preparations, training, equipment, allowances and the prosecution of the games proper, stressing that the budget for the Games has been included in this year's budget proposal.

Adedoja, who said the country would participate in 23 sports at the games, however said the decision to feature in some of the sports is to expose such athletes as a way of preparing them for future challenges.

The Minister said the sports to be featured in are weightlifting, basketball, cycling, boxing, chess, swimming, table tennis, football, handball, shooting, athletics, volleyball, canoeing, badminton, judo, gymnastic, taekwondo, karate, rowing and sailing.

He added that, aside from the local camping, the athletes will go on foreign training tour before the games proper.

Tosin Oke Inspires School Children In UK

Commonwealth Games triple jump champion Tosin Oke has stated his 2011 season by helping to inspire school children in the UK at the launch of a Metropolitan Police sports initiative recently.

Oke, who grew up in Hackney but represents Nigeria, put pupils from Stepney Green School through their paces at the launch of the Met Track scheme at Mile End Stadium.

According to the PE teacher of the school, Giovani Giordano, meeting Oke had proved a real incentive for the school’s budding athletes.

According to Oke, “the scheme is all about getting more children involved in athletics and the initial signs were very good. The Met Track scheme is important in helping to turn children towards sport rather than hanging around on the streets.”

The dark-complexioned athlete, who won the Commonwealth Games title in India last year at the age of 30, worked with some promising athletes and gave them some advice on how to improve their strength and endurance.

PC Steve Austin, who works for the Metropolitan Police youth team programme said, “It is an excellent example of how the Metropolitan Police, together with world-class athletes, such as Tosin Oke, can create an environment where young people can be inspired.”

Met Track works across most of London’s boroughs, aiming to get teenagers in touch with qualified local athletes.

AFN Terminates Glo Marathon Contract

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has terminated its relationship with Globacom Nigeria Ltd, due to the inability of the telecommunication company to fulfill terms of the contract for the annual Glo-Lagos International Half Marathon.

Rising from a board meeting in Abuja yesterday, January 26 2011, AFN insisted that it could no longer wait endlessly for Globacom on the international marathon.

Dr. Geofrey Ogu, AFN board member who confirmed the decision of the board revealed that Globacom had been in default for two years running.

“The board (AFN) has just decided now to terminate the contract. We are going to give an update on the marathon in due time. What however is certain is that the contract with Globacom has been terminated,” observed the board member.

Yesterday’s decision by the AFN board is a fall out of many months of trying to persuade the telecommunication company to honor it’s obligation in line with the five-year contract it signed in 2007 with the federation.

Technical/ Performance Director of the AFN Sunday Bada had recently openly lamented the embarrassment the Lagos Half Marathon was turning into, following a spate of enquiries from international athletes.

"We have an existing contract with Globacom. The terms of the five years contract says that the event will hold every year but for what ever reason that didn’t happen last year and this year they are not making any move to see how the event will take place,” observed the former IAAF World Cup winner.

While reiterating the importance of the Half Marathon as the highest of the AFN property, the Sydney Olympic 4x400m gold medalist frowned at situations where sponsors fail to honor agreement mutually entered into.

Inability of the AFN to pay some athletes that took part in the last CAA Super Grand in Abuja in 2009 had created problems with the world body IAAF. Similarly, other debts arising from the Port Harcourt marathon bankrolled by the Rivers State government had created image problem for the country in the committee of road running members of IAAF.

NOC Meets Over London 2012 Olympics

The Executive board of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, would meet on Thursday in Abuja to map out strategies on Nigeria’s outings in major competition for the year and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The meeting which will commence at 11.00 a.m prompt would deliberate on the London 2012 Olympic Games, 10th All Africa Games in Mozambique, the Commonwealth Youth Games in Isle of Man and Nigeria’s readiness to partake in the Games and excel. The NOC would also during the one-day meeting set up committees that would drive the NOC to realize its dream of bringing back the glory days of sports in Nigeria. NOC President, Engineer Sani Ndanusa had declared the year 2011 as year of Nigerian athletes.

“We want to make our athletes the focal point of all that we do. That means that the welfare of the athletes will be our priority. We want them to get all that their colleagues get elsewhere and win medals for the country,” Ndanusa said.

Secretary General Tunde Popoola, who also emphasized on the welfare of athletes, however said that the athletes must be ready to stay off drugs in order not to tarnish the image of the country. “Our meeting will touch on the important Games that Nigeria will take part in. So far, things are looking up since we came in and we want to ensure that we get things right both for athletes and for Nigeria,” Popoola noted.