Sports

Japan Pledges Support for Anti Doping Campaign

Published

3 years ago

February 8, 2022

… Offers Scholarship Opportunities to Nigerian Youth

Nigeria and Japan are set to deepen their bilateral relations with stronger and deeper collaborations in Sports and Youth Development.

The Japanese Government is offering scholarship opportunities to Nigerian youth and pledging support for the country’s anti doping campaign.

Both countries are also seeking to promote cooperation in information technology that will be mutually beneficial to their youth and sports development.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare in his office at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, on Monday, the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Matsunaga Kazuoshi said both countries have a lot to benefit by working together.

According to him, hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic games has given his country a better perspective about the value of sports.

“We appreciate your presence in Tokyo for the Olympics and Paralympic games,” Mr Kazuoshi told the Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare.

“And we want to build on the benefits of hosting these games to promote cooperation between Japan and Nigeria.
“We have sports equipment donated by Kizarazu City and some sports federations for the sports federations in Nigeria,” he added.

The Ambassador also stated that the Japanese Anti Doping Agency(JADA) is willing to provide online education that will help Nigeria deal with the doping issues in her sports.

In the area of youth development, Mr Kazuoshi said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan runs a scholarship programme that has over 230 Nigerians among its beneficiaries, while another initiative, the Abe initiative, founded by Shinzo Abe, their former Prime Minister, provided internship opportunities for students in the private sector, stressing that Nigerian students could benefit from both programmes.

In his response, the Youth and Sports Development Minister, Sunday Dare said seeking to strengthen diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Japan using sports and youth development would turn out as the best decision by both countries.

The Minister said Nigeria is working hard to improve her anti doping status and so would take advantage of the online education to be provided by JADA to create more awareness as well as provide more information about doping issues to her athletes.

Dare further stated that the Federal Government, through the Ministry will ensure that only qualified and genuine students are recommended for the scholarship programmes in Japan.
“Tokyo 2020, both the Olympics and the Paralympics, have had positive impact on our athletes. Since participating in the Tokyo Games, most of them have become better.
“In the last two weeks, a lot of our student athletes who were in Japan have improved on their personal best records. Our Table Tennis Champion has moved up to 13th from 15th in the world rankings. All these are the Tokyo Olympics impact.
“On behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, we want to thank Japan for hosting us and the rest of the world,” Dare added.
The Japanese Ambassador was accompanied on the visit by the Head of Culture and Information in the Embassy of Japan, Ms Nami Nakayoshi and the Ambassador’s Special Assistant, Mr John Nwankwo, a Nigerian.
Present at the meeting for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development were the Director of Sports Medicine, Dr Paul Onyeudo, the Deputy Director, Anti Doping, Mrs Fadeke Adebola and the Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister on Policy, Mr Olumide Bamiduro.

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Basketball

Match Day 2: Nigeria Customs Basketball Women`s Team Hold On beats Societte OmniSports 66-59

Published

13 hours ago

November 7, 2024

The Gleamer

Oluwabusayo Olowookere

The Nigeria Customs Women Basketball Team had to stay strong in the final quarter of their encounter against Societte Omnisport De L`Armee of Ivory Coast to win 66-59 points at ongoing FIBA Africa Women`s Basketball League Zone 3 Qualifer inside the SKD Gymnasium Paynesville Morovia Liberia.

The Customs Ladies, who secured their first win Teusday started on a strong footing dictating the flow of the game against their opponent Kourtni Perry and Tobiloba Ogedengbe ensuring that the team keep their solidity when defending and on the attack to end the first quarter 24-18 in favour of the Customs Ladies.

In the second quarter, a resilient Customs ladies who pushed took further control of the game scoring 16points as against 8points of their Ivorian opponent finishing the half time at 40-26 points.

On resuming into the third quarter, the bench of Societte Omnisport De L`Armee lifted their team to go all out as they came trying to force the Border Girls into their shell as they scored 18 points to Customs 14 points to cut the lead to 10points going into the break.

In the last quarter, Coach Abdulrahman of Nigeria Customs Service Basketball team deployed every tactics of the game to ensure that they kill of the energy of the Ivorien ladies as they kept on pushing on to find a way back into the game but at the end lost it out by 66-59 points to the Adewale Adeniyi ladies.

Reacting after the game, Head Coach Abdulrahman Mohammed admitted that the game was very difficult but experience got the results for them.

“First of all let me thanked my ladies for holding on in the game because it a game that was more physical and energy consuming for us, we both had a win in our opening game and I told my girls it won`t be an easy game, but I am happy we got the needed result”.

“We are here to win again and we must take every game to get to our target here. Every team here are not a pushover so for we have to put this one behind us and get set for our next game”.

The FIBA Zone 3 AWBL defending champion Nigeria Customs Service Basketball club will tomorrow evening play their last group game against Commissioners of Liberia at the same venue.

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