By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos
Hosts Kwara State, over the weekend, won both the boys U-14 Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and the girls U-17 Nigerian Navy Officers Wives (NOWA) Football Championship.
The final which was decided at the Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin, Kwara State, saw the male team beating their Enugu State counterparts by 4-2 via penalties after their game ended 0-0 at full time, while their female who are winning the title for a record fifth time recorded a 1-0 victory over their opponents from Osun State to emerge winners.
Presenting trophies and medals to the teams, the Chief Of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo who was represented by Rear Admiral B.J. Gbasa, Chief of Naval Administration, expressed delight at the successful hosting of the week-long event, while assuring that the Navy will continue to partner Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) in its quest to develop grassroots football.
He was particularly happy that the championship over the years has produced many talented youth, who later represented the country both locally and internationally and charged YSFON not to relent in its efforts at championing grassroots sports development.
” The Nigerian Navy is happy to partner with YSFON in its talents discovery programme and I am happy that since the commencement of this championship, many talented players have been discovered who later became household names internationally in football.
” I also want to say that I’m happy with the football artistry displayed by the players, the discipline and their level of sportsmanship and I want to assure YSFON that the Nigerian Navy will continue to sponsor this competition because of the immense benefit that goes with it”, he stressed.
In his closing remarks, National President of YSFON, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna who was represented by the Vice President North-Central, Alhaji Mustapha Allayday said that the federation is happy with what the Navy is doing in grassroots football development and charged similar services and corporate Nigeria to partner with it in order to develop sports further and give hope to talented youth of the country.
” We at YSFON are particularly happy with what the Navy is doing in grassroots sports development in the country and I appeal to similar services, corporate organisations and philanthropists to emulate them and give hope to our youths”, he concluded
Some top government officials that graced the grand finale were; representative of the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Paul. O. Odama, representative of Kwara State Governor, Director of Sports, Nigerian Navy, Commodore R.M Shammah, Deputy Commandant Navy College of Health Sciences, Offa, Kwara State, Navy Captain S.A Ahmadu and Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports, Donatius Agu- Ejidike amongst others.
