13042019 - KILLING FIELDS OF NORTH WEST:They killed my husband, our three children in my presence – Zamfara survivor

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46—SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 13, 2019 African junior Championships: Nigeria's participation hangs in the balance BY BEN EFE Nigerian junior athletes have been fasting and praying for divine intervention as their trip to Cote d' Ivoire for the African Junior Championships billed to start next week is going up in smoke. Unless some sort of succor comes today, the athletes will miss the competition after suffering in camp for close to three weeks. They even have to beg to feed in their Ijebu-Ode camp. On Thursday, the athletes and coaches were seen in the open praying for God's intervention. “We have no hope of going to Cote d' Ivoire, if something does not turn up on Saturday,” said one of the coaches tending to the athletes. “Things have been so bad and I feel sorry for the athletes who have been training and they are so determined to participate in the championships. They feel it is their future that is at stake, and they are even ready to forego their allowances if they make it to Abidjan.” It was learned that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Ibrahim Gusau was yet to visit the camp. He only phoned in to plead with the athletes to exercise some patience even as he made no promise of providing for the athletes' participation in the championships. Speaking on the issue former 400m runner, Gadzama Wadzani Tafida stated that it was quite AJ Tennis Academy plans big for Nigeria America based AJ Tennis Academy has rolled out plans aimed at the development of tennis in Nigeria and other African countries. Speaking in Lagos at the weekend, co-founder of AJ Tennis Academy, Tolu Adeleye said the appalling for up and coming Nigerian athletes to be suffering this kind of traumatic experience. He called on the Sports Minister to urgently intervene. Afikpo in Ebonyi State will host the 9th annual Chuma Anosike South East Cricket tournament which has been fixed for April 25 to 28. Six male teams, and four feamale teams representing the four South East states will feature in the tournament, being hosted for the first time by Ebonyi state. According to sponsor, Chuma Anosike, the host state is allowed to feature two male teams. “That is why we have six teams in the male category. But Ebonyi could not present two female teams and that is the reason we have only four teams in the female category,” he said. The University of Nigeria Nsuka that represented Enugu state are the defending champions in the plan would see to the construction of a functional tennis development centre in Nigeria with state-of-the-art facilities. He calls it Tennis Centre of Excellence. “Our goal at AJ Academy is to build a world class academy in Nigeria to teach the kids the three Cs, which means Curiosity for the world, Concern for the world and the Confidence to effect change in the world.” Adeleye who was born in America said their ambition was to seek partnership with both private individuals and corporate bodies to make their dream come true. “What we intend to do is to build infrastructure for tennis, train the kids, build in their minds the ability to brace to the challenges they would meet in future, as some would want to become professionals, while some others may want to play and go through their academics.” He sais his Nigerian background was the motivation behind AJ Tennis Academy's decision to come develop Nigerian tennis. Said he, “Back there in America the opportunities are abound. But that is not the same here in my country Nigeria. Like my partner Justing always say, talent is universal while opportunities are limited. Thay is why we are here to broaden those opportunities right here in Africa.” •Tolu Adeleye Cricket: Afikpo play host to Chuma Anosike Cup male category while Anambra state are defending the title in the female category. Speaking at a pre-event press conference in Lagos, Anosike said he was particularly pleased with the progress made by the organisers as everything has been put in place to make it a memorable event for the participating teams and spectators alike. “The tournament will be played in a round-robin format and the top two finishers automatically qualify for the final,” he told journalists Wednesday. “In spite of the prevailing economic challenges, we have strived to ensure that all the resources needed for the tournament are made available, and in keeping with tradition, prizes will be awarded for outstanding performances in various categories and cash gifts for the best teams in both female and male categories,” Anosike explained. The 2019 Athletics season officially opened for Nigerian athletes last weekend with the staging of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) All- Comers Meet held in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. The turnout of the home based athletes was encouraging, underlining the fact that athletes are indeed hungry for competition, and I am hoping that the federation is spurred to organize several competitions in the build up to the African Games holding in Morocco in August, and the IAAF World Championships in Doha in September. Although most of the times and distances recorded at the Ijebu meet weren’t overly fantastic – not an unusual phenomenon for the first competition of the season – I am hoping that Nigerian athletes will begin to churn out impressive performances as the season progresses because there is a lot at stake. I am also hopeful that our relay teams begin to build on the moderate successes of last year to reclaim their dominance on the continent once more, especially the male teams, starting with the 4x100m team that won Silver at the African Championships in Asaba, and the 4x400m team that clinched Bronze at the same competition. Prior to Asaba 2018, it had been at least four years since a Nigerian male quartet had won a medal of any colour. Nigeria is likely to send a team to the IAAF World Relays billed to hold in Japan in May, and that Let the season begin! will serve as a litmus test to see how prepared our relay teams are for the challenges ahead. The major focus for Team Nigeria in 2019 will be the African Games (August 16th to 30th), so the Ministry of Youth and Sports needs to ensure that sports federations step up their preparations as a matter of urgency, by funding the participation of these athletes in as many competitions as possible. Nigeria topped the medals table in Athletics at the last African Games in Congo Brazzaville despite losing two Gold medals in the men and women’s Long Jump events after Samson Idiata and Chinazom Amadi subsequently returned positive tests for doping. Anti-doping officials were present at last week’s competition in Ijebu-Ode, and it is important that they remain a permanent feature in our competitions this year to avoid situations where our athletes test positive to banned substances at international competitions. We stand a very good chance of making our presence felt in Morocco, although South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya will be waiting to show the stuff they’re made of. The African Games is expected to be highly competitive as top African stars will use the competition to gauge their readiness for the World Championships which holds from September 28th to October 6th. Also, the qualification period for the World Championships elapses on September 6th – one week after the African Games. So most athletes that will participate at the African Games will be aiming to achieve the entry standards for the World Championships, and the standards are pretty steep. For instance, in the 100m, men are supposed to clock a time of 10.10sec while women are to qualify for the event with a mark of 11.24sec. Among the present crop of athletes we have, only Ogho- Oghene Egwero (10.06sec) and Divine Oduduru (10.10sec) have met this mark in the course of their careers. Egwero achieved this feat in 2011 while Oduduru did his last year. Only three females have run faster than 11.24sec in the last seven years, and two of them are retired, talking about Damola Osayomi (10.99sec, 2011) and Gloria Asumnu (11.13sec, 2012). That leaves Blessing Okagbare- Ighoteguonor as the last woman standing in terms of consistently running world class times in the 100m. Male athletes are to qualify for the 200m with a time of 20.40sec. To put things into perspective, in the history of running the 200m in Nigeria, only 12 men have gone faster, and only one of them – Divine Oduduru, belongs to the present generation, and he is ranked the fourth fastest in Nigeria’s history with his time of 20.13sec. Only Francis Obikwelu (19.84sec), Daniel Effiong (20.10sec) and Olapade Adeniken (20.11sec) have gone faster than Divine. Based on the above statistics which come across as scary, the rising standards in the qualification marks for international championships only point toward one things, and that is the fact that we need to raise our game as a nation if we intend to make a headway in global Athletics. Mind you, the entry standards for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been released and they are much steeper than that of the World Championships. So as the 2019 Athletics season takes off, we must rise with the rest of the world or be ready to go extinct. The choice is ours!
SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 13, 2019 — 47
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13042019 - KILLING FIELDS OF NORTH WEST:They killed my husband, our three children in my presence – Zamfara survivor

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