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Dare fetes U-17 Golden Eaglets as he commends NFFF

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The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr Sunday Dare has hosted the players and officials of the victorious U-17 boys, National Team, the Golden Eaglets who won the West African Football Union WAFU B Championship Cup, held in Cape Coast, Ghana.

A statement by director press and Public Relations Mohammed Manga said the minister hosted the team on Wednesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja
He quoted the minister as having eulogised the team spirit of the players which resulted in the victory which has really made the country proud

According to him, playing and winning for a country of over 200 million citizens is not a mean feat but a bust.

The Minister who reiterated the present administration’s commitment to youth and sports development in the country assured that government would continue to focus on grassroots sports with the view to bringing about positive results in the field of sports.
Continuing he said it will go a long way to further build for the country formidable teams in all category of sports for proper representation of our nation at International competitions.

He applauded the leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for making merit and competence as its watchword in the selection of coaches for the age-grade National Teams, as agreed with the Ministry,.

This he said has started to yield fruits with excellent performances at U20 and U17 levels of recent.

“You have set a high standard
and cannot lower it, Nigeria has won the trophy 4 times hopefully might win it again, all you need is to remain focus hard working and obedient to the coaches and avoid distraction”, he said.

He added further, “I want to give credit to the NFF for implementing the cardinal principles that we agreed at meetings on youth football development. Now, we can see that the emphasis on merit and competence has started to bear fruits. “The U17 and U20 girls have qualified for their FIFA World Cup competitions with aplomb and the U17 and U20 boys have won regional tournaments in emphatic manner, with promises of what we can look forward to at their African championships next year.
 
“Our hard focus as a government on grassroots development in all sports will continue. I congratulate the players and their coaches of the Golden Eaglets for winning so convincingly in Ghana and I want to charge you to remain focused for the continental championship in order to get the ticket to the World Cup. For you players, you must stay humble, hardworking and obedient to your coaches”, he explained.

Earlier in his remarks, the Permanent Secretary Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar commended the players for writing the name of the country in gold in the continent.

He warned the players against allowing distractions from all manner of agents and player-managers, and rather be dedicated to improving their craft with temperance, endurance and a level head.

The Permanent Secretary also announced a cash reward of N2m (Two Million Naira) for the team owing to their exemplary performance at the tournament.

The Secretary General Nigeria Football Federation, Dr Mohammed Sanusi while presenting the players and the team to the Honourable Minister, stated that the Head Coach Nduka Ugbade was the captain of the first Nigeria team to win the FIFA Cadet World Cup (CWP) and was also assistant coach to Manu Garba when Nigeria triumphed in the United Arab Emirates in 2013. “He is also a global consultant on football science”, he said.

Speaking on behalf of the team, the Head Coach Nduka Ugbade disclosed that football has gone scientific and there is therefore the need for early campaign as the team guns for its world cup ticket.
 
He described the reception as a special occasion saying the team is encouraged to do its utmost to continue to bring honour to the nation, “first by putting up a stellar outing at the U20 AFCON in Algeria and then going on to hold its own at the FIFA World Cup finals in Peru.”

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TRS Promotions announces 2024 Ludo Competition with N1m Grand Prize

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TRS Promotions has announced the 2024 edition of the ‘Ludo Competition For All’, billed to take place on Saturday, December 14th, 2024, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.
A statement by the media handlers which was released on Monday indicated that the competition is bringing together Ludo enthusiasts from across the country in to compete for their share of the ₦2,250,000 prize pool.
The statement explajned that the competition’s grand prize has been fixed at ₦1,000,000, with ₦750,000 for the second-place winner, and ₦500,000 for third place.
Explaining further it stated that the Preliminary rounds will take place from November 1st to 30th across various Local Governments in Lagos, and registration is already open with a fee of ₦1,000.
The statement encouraged Players and supporters to register early and follow updates via the social media handle @WINDRAUGHTGAME.
TRS Promotions also called on corporate organizations, private individuals, and the government to support the event through sponsorship, ensuring the competition’s success.

For more details, participants can visit windraughtgame.com or contact info@windraughtgame.com.

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DC Haniel Hadison emerges the winner of Veteran’s final in Squash Tourney at Lagos Country Club

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From left: Chairman, Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, Sir 'Semoore Badejo, Captain Caulkrick, Deputy Managing Director, Merchant Express, Mr. Seyi Adewunmi, Dr. Bunmi Apata, winner of the Squash Men's final, Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express, Mr. Kingsley Nwokoma and the Captain of the Squash Section, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim.

The Squash Section, Lagos Country Club over the weekend, held its 18th Annual Merchant Express Global Cargo and Turkish Cargo Airlines Closed, Open Invitational and 4th PSA Squash Tournament where winners emerged in various categories.

From left: Captain of the Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim,
Chairman of the Section, Sir ‘Semoore Badejo, Mr. Seyi Adewunmi, presenting an Appreciation memorabilia to
Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express, Mr. Kingsley Nwokoma and
Captain Caulkrick, Deputy Managing Director, Merchant Express.


The tournament, spreading accross a period of two weeks, saw players from over fourteen Squash playing Clubs accross the country competing in different categories; Men, Veteran and, for the first time, the Super-Veteran category for players above the age of 60.

From left: Chairman, Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, Sir ‘Semoore Badejo, Alhaji Yussuf Durosinlorun, representative of Nigeria Squash Federation, DC Haniel Hadison, winner of the Squash Veteran’ s final, Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express, Sir Ladi Smith, a Patron of Squash Section, LCC and the Captain of the Squash Section, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim.


In the Super-Veteran category, Telema Princewill of the Port Harcourt Squash Club won with Dr. Kayode Roberts of the Ikoyi Club, Squash Section became the runner-up.

The Veteran’s final, which became the most engaging game during the finals saw DC Haniel Hadison of Lagos Country Club defeating Clement Efakpokire of Ikoyi Club, while the Men’s final had Bunmi Apata retaining the cup as the winner both in the last year’s edition and the just concluded edition, defeating Shittu Adeola of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife Squash Club.

From left: Captain of the Squash Section LCC, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim, Telema Princewill of the Port Harcourt Squash Club, winner of the Squash Super-Veteran’s final, Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express and
Chairman, Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, Sir ‘Semoore Badejo.


The 4th PSA category which had over 80 professional Squash players from across the Country participating in the tournament both male and female had Nigeria’s current Number One Squash player, Gabriel Olufunmilayo winning the Trophy while former number one, Onaopemipo Adegoke was defeated. Busayo Olatunji won in the female category by defeating Nigeria’s number one, Rofiat Abdulazeez. Apart from the cash prizes won, the PSA Tournament also increases the global ratings of participating professional players.

From left: Captain of the Squash Section, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim, Captain Caulkrick, Deputy Managing Director, Merchant Express Cargo Services, Mr Seyi Adewunmi,
winner of the 4th PSA Squash Tournament, Male Category, Gabriel Olufunmilayo, Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express Cargo Services, Mr. Kingsley Nwokoma and Chairman, Squash Section,
Lagos Country Club ‘Semoore Badejo.


In his remark, the Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express Cargo Services, Captain Shina Akinfenwa commended the high spirit of Sportsmanship amongst the playing members and noted improvement on the standard of the game over the years. He looks foward to raising the bar in subsequent tournaments.

From left: Chairman, Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, Sir ‘Semoore Badejo, Mr. Kingsley NwokomaIbrahim, winner of the 4th PSA Squash Tournament, Female Category, Busayo Olatunji, Vice Chairman of Swimming Section, LCC, Mr Demola Ogunlesi, Captain Shina Akinfenwa, Chairman/Managing Director of Merchant Express and the Captain of the Squash Section, Dr. Niyi Ibrahim.


Sir ‘Semoore Badejo, the Chairman of Squash Section, Lagos Country Club, expressed satisfaction on the massive turnout for the event and members’ obvious enthusiasm towards the game of Squash. He thanked the Sponsors, Merchant Express Global Cargo and Turkish Cargo Airlines for supporting the growth of the game of Squash being the 19th year the organization has been sponsoring this event. He noted the inclusion of the additional Category, expressly supported by the Sponsors; the Super-Veteran category, which encouraged more participation from the Squash community all over the country. He thanked the Sponsors and promised a better tournament next year.

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Philip Shuaib to feature as “Guest Player’ for NUJ Team in football tournament

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The Former Edo State Deputy Governor, comrade Philip Shuaibu has expressed his readiness to play as ‘Guest player” for the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) football team (Team Correspondents) in the 2nd Edition of the NUJ FCT Correspondents Chapel Football Tournament.

The 3-Day tournament with the theme: ‘Football for Friendship and Peace ‘ is scheduled to kick off on Thursday July 11th by 10:00am at Area10 football field by Old Parade Ground Abuja.
The NUJ team would be facing the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at the group and knockout stage while the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) would engage the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Also the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) would be taking on the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) while AIBEN would be slugging it out with the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) would tackle Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) and Nigeria Police Force(NPF) will engage Federal High Court (FHC).

Shuaibu disclosed this on Wednesday when he received a delegation led by the Chairman of FCT Correspondents Chapel, Mr. Jide Oyekunle who paid him a visit to formally present him with his jersey and kits in Abuja ahead of the encounter.
He said God has used journalists to save his life and he is ready to sacrifice his last energy to support and identify with any programme organized by journalists in the country.
He described the football tournament
initiative by the Oyekunle’s led executive as laudable and outstanding just as he called on the government, organizations and well meaning Nigerians to support the initiative to achieve its purpose.
The tournament which is aimed at promoting and strengthening the relationships between the media and participating organizations would feature twelve (12) teams drawn from the government organizations, security agencies and professional bodies
The ex-Deputy Governor said he is battle ready for the game just as he promised to lead the NUJ team ’ to victory.
According to Shuaibu “For me, anything for journalists I am there even when I am weak. If I have small energy and journalists call and say we need you I can use that last energy to be part of their programme.

“As I always say, God use them to keep me alive and God is still using them. I see myself as one of you. I want to commend you for this noble idea and initiative and I call on well meaning Nigerians and corporate organizations to support gestures like this.
“Anywhere there are no journalists, that place is dead and would never be recognised. Journalism profession is life and anywhere there are no journalists there is no life.
“He also narrated how he helped the wife of the Governor, Besty Obaseki to organise pre- season football tournament tittled “Education For Girl Child ‘ using ‘Gloria’ one of Edo Queen as face and Ambassador of the tournament as role model for young ones.
He said his passion for football was borne out of the fact that it has the power to bond people together and unite the world irrespective of the religion, ethnic and political affiliation.
The NUJ Chairman, Jide Oyekunle on his part said the gesture by the Deputy Governor to participate in the tournament would be an icing on the cake, just as he conferred the captain title of the team on him.
He said, his presence would further boost the morale of the players and keep them in high spirits.

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