Sports
Weightlifting : Aladi assures Nigerian of winning medals, Commonwealth, World Championship tickets
The President of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) Ibrahim Aladi on Friday in Abuja, assured Nigerian of winning medals and qualifiers for Commonwealth, World Championship.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports seven lifters will departed Nigeria to
Uzbekistan to participate in the World Championships and Commonwealth Senior Championships.
He said the athletes are well prepared and they will return with medals.
“Our chances is very bright and we are going to do our best. I can assure that what I expected from the athletes despite.
” Some of the athletes are African champions and alll African game, commonwealth champions no doubt of recording victory at the end of the championship.
“They are well prepared for the championship, we are expecting nothing else than they win medals and victory and that is all what we are expecting from them,” he said.
Christopher Nwadei, the technical Director of the federation said they had a good preparation ahead of the championship.
“We have at least reasonable time to prepare for the competition.
“The championship is a twin championshi, it is a qualification event for the forth Commonwealth wealth games which is scheduled to hold next year in Brighminham.
“This is not the first time they are going out for this type of competition, some of them are already ranked within first and third ranking, hopefully we are hoping for a very good performance,” he said
He said seven athletes will be representing the country and they comprises of five women and two men.,
” The Althetes are in different categories of weight seven of them are in different categories.
“We have the women’s featuring in the categories are 49kg, 55 kg, 59kg, 60kg, 70kg, 71kg and for the men we will be featuring in the 67kg and 69kg categories.
Olarinoye Adenike, the captain of team Nigeria said they come back to Nigeria with medals.
“I am 55 kg categories in female category. We are all determined to do our best to make the country proud.
“We are well prepared for the championships and by God Grace we are coming home with the medals.
“I”m ranked first in Africa and commonwealth and six in the world. We will Nigeria proud at the end of the championship.,” she said.
The seven lifters and their weight are :
Stella Peter Kingsley 49 kg, Adijat Adenike Olarinoye 55 kg, Rafiatu Folashade Lawal 59 kg, Ogbonne Eze Joy 71 kg.
Taiwo Liadi 76 kg, Emmanuel Inemo Appah 61 kg and Umoafia Edidiong Joseph 67 kg.
NAN reports that International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships and Commonwealth Senior Championships will hold from Dec. 7 to Dec. 17 in Tashkent, Uzbekis
Sports
Plateau Vipers, Benue Queens Crowned Champions at HFN North Central Division One Tourney
Joel Ajayi
The President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Jibril Seidu, has said the federation will continue to intensify its grassroots talent development drive through zonal competitions across the country.
Seidu stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the finals of the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship, where Plateau Vipers defeated Suleja Shooters 29-24 to emerge champions in the men’s category.
In the women’s final, Benue Queens of Makurdi defeated City Queens of Suleja to claim the title.
The eight-day tournament featured teams from across the North Central Zone, with Plateau Vipers of Jos, Confluence Stars of Lokoja, Unity Boys of Abuja, Suleja Shooters and Nasarawa Ambassadors of Lafia competing in the men’s category.
In the women’s category, Nuela Handball Academy of Ilorin, Inikpi Babes of Idah, Benue Queens of Makurdi and City Queens of Suleja competed for honours.
At the end of the competition, four teams — two male and two female — emerged as the North Central Zone’s representatives for the national Division One league.
According to Seidu, the tournament was organised as part of the federation’s deliberate strategy to take handball development back to the regions and discover talents that might otherwise remain unnoticed.
He said the HFN board, inaugurated on October 25, 2025, resolved that grassroots development was essential to creating a sustainable pipeline of players for national and international competitions.
“All the teams you have seen here are from the North Central Zone of the country, and every state is represented with an academy or state team,” he said.
Seidu explained that the new approach marked a departure from the previous system, where talent identification was largely centred on the federation’s major league competitions.
He said taking competitions to the regions would provide young players with greater opportunities to showcase their abilities while strengthening the foundation of handball across the country.
The HFN president also linked the grassroots initiative to Nigeria’s recent achievements in international handball, stressing the need to develop younger players who can eventually replace members of the current national teams.
He noted that Nigeria had qualified for the 2027 Men’s Junior Handball World Championship in North Macedonia, describing the achievement as evidence of the potential within the country’s handball system.
“How do we replace these players with upcoming players? This is the avenue for us to get players,” he said.
Seidu added that the federation was determined to make handball more visible and accessible, describing it as one of Nigeria’s major sporting disciplines with significant potential for growth.
The North Central tournament is part of a wider zonal programme designed to decentralise handball development across Nigeria.
According to the federation, similar competitions are being organised across other zones, including the South East, North East, North West and South South, with qualifiers from each zone expected to converge at a designated venue for the next stage of the competition.
The federation also appealed for greater support from sponsors, stakeholders and state associations to sustain its grassroots development programme.
It expressed appreciation to the participating states, academies, team sponsors and other stakeholders for their support and commitment to the growth of handball in Nigeria.
The federation said the initiative would provide a platform for discovering the next generation of Nigerian handball stars while expanding the sport’s reach beyond its traditional centres.
While Speaking the elated coach of Benue Queen Godwin Tondo has promised a stronger and more tactical performance after guiding the team to victory at the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship in Abuja.
He attributed the success to the team’s long-term youth development programme, noting that the squad was built through a deliberate process of identifying and nurturing young talents.
According to him, the programme began with the selection of 92 girls from secondary schools, who were subsequently trained and developed over a four-year period.
He said the team’s success was a product of sustained hard work and commitment despite the challenges encountered during preparations for the tournament.
“I feel very pleased being a champion today. The road to this stage was very, very hard, but I am very happy that we have got the result from all the toughness of the game,” he said.
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