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THISDAY•WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015<br />
WEDNESDAYSPORTS<br />
53<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor: More Right,<br />
Less Wrong<br />
“Sometimes I get it right, sometimes<br />
I get it wrong,”said Blessing<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor when<br />
talking about her 100m running.<br />
Sunday night in Shanghai,<br />
China was one of those occasions<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor,<br />
now going by her hyphenated<br />
married name, got it right.<br />
Facing a field of big-name<br />
sprinters including Olympic<br />
and world champion Shelly-Ann<br />
Fraser-Pryce, last year’s world<br />
leader Tori Bowie, fastest in the<br />
field this year Michelle-Lee Ayhe<br />
and Veronica Campbell-Brown,<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor responded<br />
by trouncing them all.<br />
Cool overcast conditions arguably<br />
put a damper on the times,<br />
but Okagbare-Ighoteguonor won<br />
by almost a full metre in 10.98. It<br />
was a stunning victory, both in<br />
itself and in its comprehensiveness.<br />
This performance prompted<br />
the thought: why is Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor’s chances so often<br />
ignored in this sort of race?<br />
Again in Shanghai, all the talk<br />
beforehand was about others,<br />
naturally so given some of the<br />
names, but unwisely so in that it<br />
under-rated the ultimate winner.<br />
Maybe it is the curse of<br />
versatility.<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor’s talents<br />
across sprints and jumps are<br />
prodigious. Maybe because she<br />
is so good at all, people tend to<br />
discount that possibility she can<br />
be excellent at one or, at least,<br />
one at a time.<br />
Maybe when it comes to<br />
the sprints, it is because of her<br />
obviously erratic start.<br />
Usain Bolt talked about his ‘poor’<br />
starting so often in the early stages<br />
of his 100m sprinting, but rarely,<br />
if ever, did he get a shocker.<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor seems<br />
to do so regularly. Indeed, it was<br />
hard to pick the greater shock<br />
in Shanghai. Was it the fact she<br />
won, or the fact that she was in<br />
the lead the whole way and had<br />
it won at 40 metres?<br />
She alluded to this herself after<br />
the race. “Normally I don’t have<br />
the best start, but now I was<br />
leading from the beginning,”said<br />
the Nigerian sprinter.<br />
It was a familiar scenario.<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor ran 10.79<br />
at the IAAF Diamond League<br />
meeting in London in 2013 before<br />
finishing sixth in the 100m at the<br />
IAAF World Championships in<br />
Moscow. But it does prompt the<br />
question: can she make a real<br />
charge at being the No.1 in the<br />
world this year?<br />
“I feel, I think and I hope I<br />
can,”Okagbare-Ighoteguonor told<br />
reporters after her Shanghai win.<br />
“I’m working towards it. I hope<br />
it happens.”<br />
The other cautionary note –<br />
which the athlete also echoed – is<br />
that it is still early in the season.<br />
As David Oliver had put it a<br />
day earlier: “The home run you<br />
hit last night doesn’t win today’s<br />
game.”<br />
The season, as Fraser-Pryce<br />
observed, is still young. People<br />
are at different stages of their<br />
preparations with the IAAF World<br />
Championships in Beijing still three<br />
months away.<br />
But it is never too early to<br />
build confidence and Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor laid a fair foundation<br />
on Sunday night.<br />
“It does (give me confidence),”<br />
she said of her win, “but it doesn’t<br />
change anything. There’s a lot of<br />
talented people out there, like me,<br />
so I just have to keep working<br />
hard. I don’t want to be left behind.<br />
“A performance like that<br />
gives me a little edge and a bit<br />
of confidence but I still have to put<br />
more work in and keep pushing<br />
forward.”<br />
The main thing Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor has been working<br />
on is the first 40 metres of her<br />
100m. Put that part of the race<br />
together and the rest should take<br />
care of itself.<br />
“There’s been a lot of work<br />
going on,” she said.<br />
“My coach told me ‘don’t worry<br />
about the time, just go out and<br />
execute’. I think that’s what I<br />
did and after 40 metres it felt<br />
extremely easy for me to go.”<br />
Despite her win, and despite<br />
last year’s 10.85/22.25 sprint<br />
double at the Commonwealth<br />
Games, Okagbare-Ighoteguonor<br />
said she still feels like a novice<br />
in the straight sprint.<br />
“Sometimes I get it right;<br />
sometimes I get it wrong. If I<br />
get it right – which I did today,<br />
not 100 per cent, but 70 – it<br />
feels extremely easy.”<br />
Perhaps not surprisingly, this<br />
tallies with the feeling you get<br />
watching her run the 100m.<br />
If she is up and running<br />
early, you just know Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor is going to be hard<br />
to beat, because she comes home<br />
like a train.<br />
Last year, Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor won a 200m/<br />
long jump double in Shanghai.<br />
Diamonds may be rare, and<br />
IAAF Diamond League doubles<br />
are perhaps even rarer still, but<br />
her recent focus has been more<br />
on the sprints than the long<br />
jump.<br />
So will she long jump this<br />
year?<br />
“I will,”she promised, “because<br />
I just want to see how far I can<br />
jump.” At the minute, her best<br />
is 7.00m, which she produced<br />
in 2013.<br />
In medal returns, there is<br />
little to choose between long<br />
jump and sprints. Okagbare-<br />
Ighoteguonor has an Olympic<br />
bronze in the long jump from<br />
2008 and a World Championships<br />
bronze in the 200m from<br />
2013.<br />
It seems there must be more<br />
there.<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor’s win<br />
on Sunday suggests that if she<br />
can keep her focus on keeping<br />
her focus during the first 40m of<br />
her 100m, she could find herself<br />
standing on the podium when<br />
she comes back to China in<br />
August. Maybe even the top step.<br />
-Culled from IAAF<br />
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor...good start to the outdoor season<br />
Morgan, Caxton-Martins, Claim<br />
MTN Golf Top Prizes<br />
We Want Youths to Aspire to Be Like<br />
Ogwumike, Others, Says Udeagha<br />
Golfers and enthusiasts of the sport<br />
were treated to an impressive and<br />
exciting tournament sponsored by<br />
Nigeria’s leading ICT company,<br />
MTN Nigeria at the luxuriant<br />
Lakowe Lakes last weekend.<br />
At the exciting competition,<br />
the male net category saw the<br />
Commandant of the Armed Forces<br />
Resettlement Centre, Oshodi, Air<br />
Vice Marshal Monday Morgan, who<br />
played off Handicap 18, carding an<br />
impressive score of 91 gross and 73<br />
net to finish top. 14 handicapper,<br />
Shina Luwoye, placed second with<br />
88 gross and 74 net, while Mukoro<br />
L-R: Commandant, Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Oshodi, Air<br />
Vice Marshal Monday Morgan, and Executive Secretary, Ikoyi-Obalende<br />
LCDA, Toyin Caxton-Martins, both winners of the male and female categories<br />
of the MTN Golf Challenge…last weekend<br />
Voka, a 13 handicapper was third<br />
with 87 gross and 74 net.<br />
Playing off Handicap 30,<br />
Executive Secretary of the<br />
Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA, Toyin<br />
Caxton-Martins, won the female<br />
net category, after carding 102<br />
gross and 72 net.<br />
She was followed by a 25<br />
handicapper, Linda Obieze with<br />
106 gross and 81 net and Olabisi<br />
Luwoye, a 22 handicapper with<br />
106 gross and 84 net.<br />
For their efforts, the winners<br />
received an all-expenses paid<br />
golfing weekend in George,<br />
South Africa, plus a trophy and<br />
three months data subscription<br />
bundle while the runners up<br />
were rewarded with trophies as<br />
well as a golfing weekend at the<br />
Le Meridien Ibom Hotel & Golf<br />
Resort, Uyo and free one month<br />
data subscription.<br />
Speaking at the event, Chief Executive<br />
Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mike<br />
Ikpoki, reiterated the company’s<br />
unwavering commitment to the<br />
development of golf in Nigeria.<br />
ExxonMobil Media and<br />
Communications Manager, Oge<br />
Udeagha, has said that the essence<br />
of bringing top players for the<br />
basketball and life-skill project<br />
is to give the over 300 youths<br />
involved something to aspire to.<br />
Speaking during the second<br />
launch of the Power Forward<br />
project in Abuja, Udeagha said<br />
that ExxonMobil was happy with<br />
the impact the programme was<br />
having on school children who<br />
participate in it.<br />
“We are glad at the impact<br />
that the role models are having<br />
on the kids. Olumide Ayodeji the<br />
Nigerian senior male basketball<br />
team captain and Chiney Ogwumike,<br />
the Connecticut Sun 2014<br />
WNBA rookie-of-the-year are<br />
great examples of people who<br />
have achieved a lot during a very<br />
young age who are tremendous<br />
inspiration for the youths here,”<br />
the ExxonMobil executive noted.<br />
The Power Forward pilot<br />
programme was launched in<br />
2013 in partnership with the<br />
ExxonMobil, NBA, Africare, local<br />
school and education officials.<br />
It had Nigerian Hall of Fame’s<br />
Hakeem Olajuwon, former NBA<br />
player, Obinna Ekezie, and<br />
three-time WNBA champion,<br />
Swin Cash, in attendance.<br />
The event is in partnership<br />
with the National Basketball<br />
Association and Africare where<br />
basketball is used to develop<br />
health, leadership and life skills<br />
among Nigerian youth.<br />
The second season of the Power<br />
Forward programme includes<br />
basketball games, clinics, life skills<br />
seminars and train-the-trainer<br />
sessions for coaches. It is to<br />
culminating in a 2015 boys and<br />
girls’ Power Forward final game.<br />
At the launch, ExxonMobil<br />
Nigeria Upstream Treasurer, Anibor<br />
Kragha, said that the company’s<br />
philosophy for supporting the<br />
project was that, “a productive,<br />
healthy and educated society is<br />
a place to do business”<br />
The Power Forward curriculum<br />
incorporates leadership training<br />
and health awareness through a<br />
combination of classroom and<br />
athletic activities, with student<br />
evaluations at different stages of<br />
the initiative. In addition, each<br />
school has a coach assigned to<br />
oversee the curriculum, guide<br />
students through lessons, and<br />
monitor progress.<br />
Connecticut Sun’s Ogwumike<br />
who visited some of the Power<br />
Forward school centres in Abuja<br />
said that, “The Power Forward<br />
programme is a great example<br />
of how the values of basketball<br />
are important in everyday life<br />
and help build social cohesion.”<br />
The Stafford University graduate<br />
said she was thrilled to be back<br />
in Nigeria for the programme’s<br />
second year and to work with<br />
these young boys and girls.<br />
ExxonMobil, through Non-<br />
Governmental Organisation’s and<br />
its affiliates support community<br />
investment investments programs<br />
focusing on capacity building,<br />
education and health, especially<br />
among youth and women.
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