The Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike has saluted the Nigerian women Under-17 national football team, the Flamengos, currently campaigning at the ongoing FIFA Women Under-17 World Cup in the Dominican Republic for their outstanding performances that culminates in them securing a quarterfinals ticket.
This was contained in a press release from the Office of the Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports (ONPS), signed by its Chairman, Prince Ajide Olayioye, and made available to the press on Sunday.
The coach Bankole Olowookere-tutored girls defeated their New Zealand counterparts, 4-1 in their opening Group A match, on Wednesday, the 16th of October, 2024, before whitewashing their Ecuadorian counterparts on Saturday night, 4-0 three days later. That result secures a place in the Quarterfinals for the girls as the first team to do so.
Their last match of the group will be again the host, The Dominica Republic on Wednesday the 23rd of October, which is now a mere formality, as the group leadership is the only thing at stake, for which the Flamengos are strongly positioned, considering their emphatic performances, signposted by a robust (plus) +7 goal difference.
Ejidike who is also the patron of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club urges the girls to focus on emulating their men counterparts (the Golden Eagles) who have won the World Cup a record 5 times, by going steps beyond their third-place finish in the last edition in India 2022, and win the World Cup, this time around.
In the same vein, the former President of the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN) has hailed the emergence of Abdulwaheed Oshodi as the President of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF). He describes, as a reward for dedication and commitment to the development of the sport, the emergence of Oshodi as the African federation’s president. He also believes that the development underscores the leading role being played by Nigeria as one of the two power houses in African Table Tennis. Oshodi who is a former commissioner for Youth, Sports, and Social Development in Lagos State was unanimously elected by the body at its 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday to succeed Egyptian, Khaled El-Salhy, who has led the Federation since 2010.
The Anambra-born Sports philanthropist, therefore, urges the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to leverage on Oshodi’s leadership at the continental level, to enhance the entrenchment of a robust grassroots development structure, that would guarantee a steady production of talents that would be developed into “world beaters”, to equal, and surpass the enviable records of achievement by the likes of Aruna Quadri, Segun Toriola, Kasali Lasis, Funke Oshonaike, Edem Offing among others.
He also wishes Oshodi success as he pilots the affairs of the ATTF in the days ahead.