09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

More documents

Recommendations

Info

30 — FRIDAY Vanguard, APRIL 9, 2021 This political science graduate is as good as Gold! Aminat Adeniyi, five time African Freestyle Women wrestling Champion in the 62 kg weight class, is in cloud Nine following her Tokyo Olympic qualification in the recently concluded Africa /Oceania Olympic Games qualifiers in Hammamet,Tunisia. “I feel great that I will be among the other Nigerians that will represent the country at the Olympics in Tokyo. I trained hard for it and to the glory of You just came back from Tunisia where you picked a ticket for the forthcoming Olympics in Tokyo, how do you feel about this? I feel great that I will be among other Nigerians that will represent the country at the Olympics in Tokyo. I trained hard for it and to the glory of God, I was able to scale through. I am very happy I was able to be among the number. You had a very tough battle in your weight class before you were able to pick the ticket, can you briefly tell us how you were able to scale through the hurdle? I will say that my opponent, Marwa Amri had been my arch rival. Sometimes, she had her way and at the other time I have had my way too. It was not an easy bout for both of us, but this time, I had the upper hand. Though I can say that she’s the record holder in that weight class, She has been the reigning champion in that weight category for a very long time and she came from the host country, Tunisia. My coming to that weight class, she knew that I have the kind of experience that she had. I initially suffered a setback and was able to pick a bronze which gave the passage to the Olympics. Nevertheless, the important thing is that I picked an Olympic ticket. Now that you are heading to Benin City for the National Sports Festival, don’t you think It’s going to be an easy competition for you, considering your level? You don’t have to look at it that way because every competition counts, You don’t belittle any competition. Every champion wants to stay on top and I am going there to give it my best. What extra thing (s) are you going to do in terms of preparation for the Olympics? When we get to Benin City, the president of the wrestling Federation will tell us how it’s going to be. The president hinted us the other day on his return from Tunisia that he was considering the service of a foreign coach. Do you think this is going to add any value to you people? I have not heard that. . . . But that’s what he told us . . . But if that be the case, I think I have the best coach ever in the person of coach Purify Akuh. He’s the best coach ever, in fact in the whole world. Even when you are feeling weak that you want to excuse yourself from training, he does not encourage complacency, he will fashion out a light training that will soothe you. Now the foreign coach that is coming how much does he know us the athletes? How will he cope? Does that coach know me well and what new technique is he bringing, does he know my feeling and mood? The person you have been working with for years is in a better position to understand your mood In fact, I don’t want to talk about this issue. But for me, I know I have the best coach in the world So far, only your friend Odunayo Adekuoroye was the first to qualify for the Tokyo ’20 Olympics. Did that in any way put you under any pressure? No, no, no! It did not in any way put me under any pressure nor any of my team members because we •Aminat Adeniyi, Wrestler, predicts Nigeria ‘ll win Gold at Tokyo Olympics God, I was able to scale through. It was not an easy bout for both of us, but this time, I had the upper hand” In this interview with Solomon Nwoke, the 2014 Glasgow, Scotland Commonwealth Championship gold medallist spoke about her determination to win gold medal in wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics this year. Excerpts: knew can also qualify. So it did not put us under any pressure. We were unable to attend the World Championship, but then you know that we can still qualify from the qualifying Championship in Tunisia Early this year, you had the Baraza Champion of Champions competition in Bayelsa State, would you say that has put you in good shape? Yes, you know since the Coronavirus saga we have not had competition like that. We were looking forward to competing in a bigger competition like that but for Covid-19 and other challenges. So Baraza was a kind of compensation for us, it heightened the competitive mood in us and raised our morale. The competition brought us together. Even though we competed amongst ourselves, it allowed us to test all that we had been training in the camp. You know there’s a difference between training and competition. In competition you don’t underrate anyone, even if you are the champion in your weight class. As a champion, everyone is looking forward to bringing you down, while you want to continue staying atop. Surprises can spring up from where you least expect and that’s the spirit of competition. However, competing among ourselves wasn’t that challenging because we already knew each other’s techniques. So there was no pressure, being that we are all friends and there wasn’t much at stake. But real competition like the one we are looking forward to will be a different ball game. However, Baraza brought us back to that realm of competition. Wrestling is believed to be men’s sport, what attracted you to it? What attracted me to wrestling was my upbringing. I grew up among boys who were of my age and the ones that were older than me. Being the only female child of the family then ( but now, I have other ones behind me) and I liked competing with them. So everything I was doing then, I saw myself as same-sex with them. Even when I was in secondary school one would always find me wherever there was a fight. I always supported where there’s trouble and being a leader of my group I could beat anybody. Before then, I was a handball player and was playing for my school. So one day, I said to myself that I needed to learn wrestling so that if anybody looked for my trouble I could beat the person up. As a handball player we also went to the gym to train. Other athletes also came to the gym and before this time someone had invited and introduced me to wrestling, but for the fear of my father, I couldn’t give it a deep thought. At the wrestling training, I saw some girls like me training and I said to myself that I could beat these girls. Of course, I like challenges coupled with my background coming from a family where there were so many children, everything was competition. I now told the coach handling their training that I could beat these girls and he said I should come in and try my strength. Initially, my plan was to learn to fight for selfdefence and that was how I started as a wrestler. During my training, I couldn’t score them and they too couldn’t score me either but the coach was impressed with me. That day he followed me home to seek my mom’s consent for me to start wrestling, but she said that she lacked the power to give her consent and that the coach should wait for my father to come. But the coach insisted that while waiting for my dad, that she should give her consent and she said okay I should go ahead. My father played football and wanted to play full-time soccer but his parents stopped him for fear of injury. So when the coach approached him, being a sports person he consented to the coach’s permission. From then on, I switched over to wrestling. You are a graduate of Political Science, how were you able to combine wrestling with your education ? It wasn’t easy at all because most times my exams clashed with when I am in a big-time competition. There was this time when Rivers State hosted the National Sports Festival in 2011 in Port Harcourt and towards the last day of my competition and I had exams the following day. it was a very difficult moment for me, so immediately after my competition, I wanted to board the next available night bus back to Akure to meet up with the exams, but my coach prevailed on me not to travel that night till the following morning to avoid any unforeseen mishap on the road. Then the following day I started the journey back to Ondo State and by the time I got to my school, my course-mates were already coming out of the exams hall and there was nothing I could do. Even as my Head of Department (HOD) was aware that I was a sports person he couldn’t do anything and I went to my lecturer, it was the same thing but he encouraged me to write the exams first the much I could because he was not going to award me marks at the expense of those who sat for the exams. He reasoned that would amount to injustice on their part. I was at 200 level then going to 300 I believe if we can continue in this manner, there’s no way we cannot win gold medals at the Olympics, God willing level and that was a major course in my studies and eventually, I scored ‘B’ in it. So sometimes when I think of combining sports with academics I feel it’s not ordinary. It was just God that I was able to scale through with my results without problems. I give God the glory and my close friends who always kept me abreast with calls when I was away. Whenever there was a test they called me to start coming to the school immediately for the test. I made it mandatory to be in school from Monday to Wednesday and from Wednesday evening till the weekend, I was in Akure to train. If there was any test in between, they would call me and from my school to Akure is about 45 minutes drive. I always made sure that my phone was fully charged so as not to miss any call from my friends in school. There were times I would travel up to three times a day on that road. In all, it was not easy combining sports with academics. But if I hadn’t taken the pains at that time, I don’t think I would have gotten any degree by now. What was the feeling like when you were first called to national camp? The feeling was nice and was like a dream come true because before that time I had been hearing good things from friends who were first called to camp, how they were treated and pampered with good food and some cash to go with. All these I used to hear from my friends when I was into handball and I kept thinking about when I will have the opportunity of enjoying those goodies in the national camp too. But I never knew that my time would come through wrestling. It is something every athlete looks forward to and must experience. When I started winning gold in wrestling at national competitions that I was called to national camp and I started enjoying those benefits. It was all fun at the camp, there you mix up with the senior ones you had been looking up to. The difference here is that the training becomes more intense than when you are outside the camp. In the National Camp, everything is regimented, you work with time. When it’s time for training, your room-mate must not get to the training ground or gym before you. You must observe all rules and regulations guiding the camp. It helped to shape my life on and off the camp. Learning the hard way helps to bring out the best in one and that way you can never forget what you learnt. Now can you tell us about your most memorable fight and at which competition? I can say that was in the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville. I never believed I could come up with the kind of performance I put up as a bronze medallist in my weight class. I knew it was not going to be an easy match and I needed it, by all means. It was just like a personal challenge for me competing in the 60kg weight class from my 58kg weight class. During the bout, I had to wrestle the Champion of that weight category and she leading me in the first and second rounds. Somehow, I got a deep cut in my mouth which required stitching because I was bleeding profusely. So, because of the injury, she started putting mure pressure on me but I refused to yield and eventually, I won the bout which earned me and my country a gold medal. That was my best fight ever. Looking back a bit, what would you say the sport has done for you? Wrestling as a sport has done a lot for me. Without wrestling, I don’t know where I would have been today. Honestly, before I graduated from school I had already gotten a job and that was the same year I got admission at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State. It was not as if I got my job with my certificate. I got employed through s p o r t (wrestling), so after God, this game gave me a job and has taken me to so many countries I would not have dreamt of going on my own. This sport has exposed me a lot. It has blessed me financially joined me to people that matter. I have dined with Kings and Queens all through this sport. All I can say is I thank God I joined this game because of all I have achieved. Still on Tokyo 2020, do you think Nigeria can win a gold medal or a medal of any colour at the Games? Talking about wrestling, I will say yes. Going by our training I can say yes, Nigeria can win a medal or even a gold medal. The person handling us, Hon Daniel Igali knows all it takes to win gold; he is an Olympic gold medallist himself. He has channelled all our thinking and reset our mode to winning the Olympic gold medal. Even when you’re sleeping you see yourself wrestling and setting your eyes on the gold medal. Your entire physiologocal and psychological states are all about that winning mentality. There are things you can fake or pretend about, but in this case it has become part of your life. That we are in camp right now is courtesy of him and he wrestles with us on the mat as well as dishing out all those winning techniques to us. I believe if we can continue in this manner, there’s no way we cannot win gold medals at the Olympics, God willing. . . .And your target at the tournament in Tunisia? That’s very obvious, my target is to win gold to qualify for the Olympics and I know that God will perfect that for me in Jesus Name. Nigerian women wrestlers seem to have taken the shine off the men. What would you attribute this to? I have not thought along that line because I only concern myself with our training. I don’t know much about their training. Maybe it’s because of our mindset to keep winning to get one or two things to make our lives better. Sometimes what you desire pushes you to extra mile. . . In terms of the number of athletes, the females are more than their male counterparts. Ten females against five males? I think this should be a result of the difference in weight categories. The Olympic weight classes for the men and women are different and some of the male wrestlers are in two different wrestling styles ‘ Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Where do you see wrestling in Nigeria in the next 10 years? Wrestling in the next 10 years will take over every other sport because right now we have more vibrant ones coming behind us, they are super talented and if they can continue like this, they will do much better than us because we are not going to be there on the wrestling mat in the next 10 years.
Osinbajo to declare Edo 2020 close Vice president Yemi Osinbajo, is expected back in Benin City to declare Edo 2020 closed on April 14. On April 6 Prof. Osinbajo was denied the opportunity to open the Games, when his plane failed to land in Benin City due to adverse weather conditions. 'He will be back to close the Festival next week. "His plane could not land, he had to return to Abuja on the opening day," said Edo deputy governor, Philip Shaibu. Okowa knocks Sports ministry, Edo over games closure threats Stories By Ben Efe elta State Sports Commission Dchairman, Tonobok Okowa has urged the sports ministry and the Edo State government to iron out their differences, to avoid a disruption to the 20th National Sports Festival. Okowa was reacting to threats by the Edo State government to shut down the NSF over delayed fulfilment the federal government's promise to provide funds for the Games. He said it would be a blow to sports if the games were stopped midway. "We are staying put in Benin City to complete the NSF... let Edo come and chase us out. "It is not acceptable to us that the festival should end abruptly. We States have spent a lot of money camping and coming to the games. "Edo State and FG must act quickly to avoid a sticky situation. This has never happened and we must not allow it to happen," Okowa said yesterday. •Osinbajo National Sports Festival continues in Benin he Ministry of Youth and Sports TDevelopment has clarified that the 20th National Sports Festival, Edo 2020, is going on as planned with competitions going on as scheduled. The Ministry and the Main Organising Committee (MOC) for the festival are unaware of any plans or threat by the Edo State Government to shut down the sports festival as there has been no official meeting or communication that relayed such information. The Honorable Minister, Permanent Secretary and Directors are on ground in Benin City where the Festival is holding, and it is expected that the Edo State Government would formally invite the Ministry •Okowa French Open postponed by one week Mike Tyson plans to face Lewis, Holyfield this year ike Tyson has outlined Mhis grand plan to fight three legends of the sport before walking away to enjoy his life. The legendary American heavyweight made his comeback in an exhibition draw against Roy Jones Jr last November in a bout that generated £58million in pay-per-view buys. And the 54-year-old has a taste for the sweet science again, revealing who he wants to step inside the ring for a meeting should any urgency exist around the National Sports Festival or communicate officially with the Main Organizing Committee (MOC) for the festival. The Ministry has no such communication. For the records, the Edo State government due to the cost implications of postponements occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic requested financial assistance from the Federal government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. The Ministry has since been at work to secure the financial assistance which it believes is being processed. The MYSD and EDSG are determined to deliver a successful National Sports Festival. with before he hangs his gloves up for good. 'I want Holyfield and I want Lennox Lewis this year,' he revealed on his Hotboxin' Podcast.'I want both of them, I want to get them both this year. I also want to box an exhibition with Tyson Fury. 'If I do that - even if I can get those two guys [Lewis and Holyfield], I'll say, "This is a wrap, I'm just gonna live life." 'And that's just exhibitions. I'm gonna break all my professional true records with exhibitions.' Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 — 31 Cycling: Edo, Bayelsa win Team Time Trials gold •Dare Athletics events begin amidst uncertainty The French Open has been postponed by a week in the hope that more spectators will be permitted to attend. The Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros will now run from 30 May to 13 June with qualifying the week before. France is in a third nationwide lockdown amid a surge in coronavirus cases, which president Emmanuel Macron previously said he expected to end in mid-May. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) said postponing was the "best solution". "I am delighted that the discussions with the public authorities, the governing bodies of international tennis, our partners and broadcasters, and the ongoing work with the WTA and ATP, have made it possible for us to postpone the 2021 Roland Garros tournament by a week," FFT president Gilles Moretton said. "It will give the health situation more time to improve and should optimise our chances of welcoming spectators at Roland Garros, into our newly-transformed stadium that now covers more than 30 acres. "For the fans, the players and the atmosphere, the presence of spectators is vital for our tournament, the spring's most important international sporting event." Edo and Bayelsa states have shared the gold medals at stake in the Team Time Trials event of cycling at the ongoing National Sports Festival decided early Thursday on Irhirhi road in the outskirts of Benin City. The Edo women's quartet team led by Tombrapa Grikpa finished the 10km race in a time of 12mins, 02.14secs to win the gold medal. Their closest rival and sister state, Delta with Ese Ukpereseraye as the pivot settled for the silver when they returned a time of 12mins, 16.48secs. Oyo state quartet which had Joke Durogbade as lead rider finished in a time of 12mins, 42.36secs to pick the bronze ahead of Plateau state. Track and field events of the 20th National Sports Festival begin today amidst growing concern about the continuation of the Games. Prospective medal hopefuls were seen warming up at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in the face of all the confusion. Apart from that, technical officials seem not to be ready for the competitions as they clamour for certain conditions to be met. "We expect that competition will be on as scheduled despite threats of closing by the NSF by Edo State. "The athletes are ready and we are looking forward to good performances," said Falilat Ogunkoya African women 400m record holder at 49.10seconds. She frowned at threats to close the Festival, stressing that political intrigues should not hinder sports development. The men's gold was won by Bayelsa state propelled by Caleb Kalizibe. They clocked 10mins, 25.99secs ahead of Delta state which settled for Silver after returning in a time of 10mins, 29.42secs. Edo finished third among 16 participating stated to pick the bronze. They clocked 10mins, 29.49secs. So far in the nine events decided after five days of competition, host Edo, defending champions Delta and Bayelsa have three gold medals each but Edo leads the pack having won more silver medals. Pillars, Aspira sign MoU •As Viva emerges official sponsor Former Nigeria Profes sional Football League champions, Kano Pillars FC, have signed an MoU with Aspira Nigeria, a Kano State-based private firm, till the end of the 2020/2021 season. This was disclosed by the club's Chairman, Alhaji Surajo Shaaibu Yahaya Jambul shortly after signing the agreement on Thursday evening in his office, adding that the MoU is part of the club's determination to bring private organisations to reduce dependence on the state government. Alhaji Jambul thanked Aspira's management for the partnership, saying they will not regret it, just as he expressed hope that others within and outside the state would follow suit. With the MoU, VIVA, the company's flagship brand and one of the leading detergents and multipurpose soap brand in Nigeria, will be the official sponsor of Kano Pillars FC for the season. Earlier, Chairman of ASPIRA Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmad Haruna Zago said they agreed to partner with Kano Pillars FC considering the significant of football in the society. Alhaji Haruna Zago commended the chairman of the club for making efforts to convince the company and agreed to the partnership. He described the Kano Pillars Chairman as a visionary leader. Along Alhaji Haruna Zago, Head of Marketing, Santhosh Kumar Nair, Aspira Nigeria Ltd., presented the Jerseys to the club. •Champions at different times. Tyson, Lewis and Holyfield
Page 1 and 2: Patients lament as resident doctors
Page 3 and 4: Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 —
Page 5 and 6: vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguar
Page 11 and 12: Vanguard, , FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021
Page 13 and 14: The audacity of anarchy THERE was a
Page 17 and 18: The return of Luna and Gbagbo THE f
Page 19 and 20: CBN gets order to freeze 194 accoun
Page 21 and 22: Reign of terror in Niger as bandits
Page 23 and 24: Drug Abuse: Northern govs' wives pl
Page 25 and 26: Shaban 27, 1442 A.H. UNILAG G Musli
Page 29: CHANGE OF NAME OGBOMO I, formerly k

09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?