By Akeem Busari

It was another victorious outing for Nigeria on the continental stage as the national U16 female basketball 3v3 team, claimed gold medal in Dakar, Senegal at the DAKAR EN JAUX 2024 Festival.

The Nigerian girls who had earlier claimed a silver medal in Accra, Ghana during the All Africa Games, defeated host country, Senegal 11-8 in the final to become champions.Speaking after the final game, Nigeria’s head of delegation and team coordinator, Victor Okoro, praised the girls for putting up spectacular displays throughout the games.

“I’m very proud of this team. I am also happy that once again, they have made Nigeria proud on the international stage,” he remarked.Okoro, a board member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, noted that the recent feats of the team is a further testament to the untiring efforts of the NBBF, led by Engr. Musa Kida to continually develop the game in at levels, for the benefits of Nigeria.

The Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission, Lekan Fatodu, has said the state as a sports hub will not relent in its efforts in contributing to the knowledge of Games Masters/Mistresses and Physical Education teachers in order to promote a sustainable and effective sports development at the grassroots level.

The three-day clinic named “Train the Trainer” was designed by the Lagos State Sports Commission to train Physical Education teachers on the fundamentals of cricket, other basic techniques they need to be acquainted with as the first point of contact to the students.

Speaking eloquently while watching the practice game of the Games Masters/Mistresses, Lekan Fatodu described the initiative as a developmental processes in contributing to the sustainable growth of sports at the school level.

He stated, “what we are trying to do is the need and necessity to improve to hone the skills of our experts, particularly in schools. Right now, we are very focus about developing sports not just from the grassroots: we are going back to school”.

“We are pooling Games Masters/Mistresses together in a refresher course in different sporting areas.We are doing the clinic in around cricket, so that we can be able to improve their skills and have better understanding of youths development and trends in sports”, said Fatodu DG LSSC.

Speaking further, Fatodu explained that the state will continue to subscribe to many initiatives on the back of the game while encouraging the participants to take the lessons learnt seriously in order to teach their students on the values associated with cricket

The clinic began on the 31st of October, and ended yesterday, 2nd November, 2024, at the University of Lagos Cricket Oval, Akoka, Lagos, where over 30 Games Masters/Mistresses from different schools were took on the rudiments of cricket: to inculcate the right values into the students through the instrumentality of sports and continues on the momentum of school sports development.

The Lagos Individual Boxing Club Championship has been concluded on Sunday at the Bishop Aggey playing ground, Ilassamaja, Mushin, Lagos.

Boxers from different boxing clubs in the state assembled for the week-long tourney designed to churn out more talents, eliminating juvenile delinquency and in preparations for the forthcoming “Gateway Games” in the neighbouring Ogun State.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Lekan Fatodu, reiterated the commitment of the state in propagating grassroots sports development, noting that the commission would continously bringing initiative that will encourage the youths to take active part across different sporting areas.

He noted that the identified boxers will be presented to the sport association in state so that their talents can be properly nurtured to further shape their career in their choosing discipline.

“We realized that their is a need for us to further engage the community, particularly the young people in productive activities and also to help them harnessed their hidden sporting talents”, said Fatodu.

However, Abeeb Adekunle, who fought under the badge of Owonikoko Boxing Club, won a gold medal in the 80kg category, following his winning streak at the championship. Omotajo Semiu won a gold medal after dominating the 75kg weight category, while Lawal Ismail grabbed a gold medal in the 71kg.

Also, in the female weight categories, Adura Patience from Owonikoko Boxing Club, Divine Emmanuel, Owonikoko Boxing Club, and Jinadu Ikimat, Star Boxing Club, clinched gold medals in 70kg 86kg and 61kg respectively.

Director, Sports Development, LSSC, Nunayon Travih, stressed that the identified boxers at the championship would be monitored and guided to achieve their potential in the course of their discipline.

Travih added that with their ability and dexterity in the boxing ring they would be expose to proper guidance and routine training in order to continue to hone their skills.

Director, Technical Department, Usman Okunnu, posited that the championship is part of the lineup activities of the LSSC to put the state’s athletes in proper positions for the forthcoming national competitions and to also catch them young at the grassroots level.

He said apart from boxing there are other events like blind sports, cricket, softball among others coming up in different locations.