PRE-NUGA: Athletes Assure Good Results In Varsity Games

Ahead of the upcoming preliminary stage of the Nigeria Universities Games (NUGA) scheduled to hold at the University of Ilorin, athletes from various universities are set to make a name for their respective schools. 

The story is not different with athletes from Ekiti State University as the atmosphere of the university sports complex is filled with enthusiasm, hard work and hope to secure better records than their previous participation in 2017.

In an exclusive interview with coaches of various sports the varsity will undertake during the games, students were assured of good representation in Ilorin.

Speaking with the Head Coach of the Scrabble team, Mr Zadok Moses, he said; “He who fails to prepare has prepared to fail. However, this is not the first time we are going to partake in this competition, NUGA. We participated [in it] four years [ago] but [it] didn’t go down well due to inexperience from the part of the players as that was their first outing ever. And that was the first time Scrabble was included in NUGA.

“Moreover, it is not new, we have Onifade Samuel, Remilekun Isaiah and Alako Seyi who won gold, each, for the first five consecutive Ekiti state Scrabble competitions.”

Meanwhile, the Head Coach of the Basketball team, Adetayo Awojirin, spoke frankly about the challenges that might affect the athletes. 

“The level of our preparation and training was great but one little problem is that the students going for the pre-NUGA games are writing exams and couldn’t come on time for training and I can’t force them to leave their primary assignment which is the exam they are writing at the moment.”

On the other hand, the Head Coach of Chess, Fatoba Temitope, remains optimistic about his team.

“Our team is very solid, we have a global platform called lichess, most of the time there is no competition due to coronavirus, we usually meet on this platform to know much about each player’s strength, we are okay and we are good to go.”

Similarly, the Head Coach of the Badminton team rendered all appreciation to the  Directorate of Sports 

“So far so good, the Directorate at the helm of affairs at the sports department in person of Mr. Adesogan has tried his best to supply badminton equipment up to 90% ground. With this, we are good to go.”

The coach of the male football team known as EKSU (Galacticos), Babajide Coupon, like other coaches, promised high results in preliminary games. 

He said; “Unilorin isn’t a strange place for us, we’ve been there before and we made an impact, definitely we will do likewise this time.”

Babajide also added that the examination period has lessened the amount of time the boys used for preparation.

“The ongoing examination is a major challenge for us, nevertheless we won’t relent to prove our worth and raise the flag of the school high.”

The Volleyball coach, Taiwo Anthony oluwadamilola said: “By the grace of God , with the current morale in the team we will surely give in our best and get the NUGA ticket because we’ve got what it takes to win.”

He further said no limitations in the team ahead of the competition.

“We’ve tried [to tighten] all loose ends even with the examination in progress.”

The preliminary games begin on the 20th of January and end on the 23rd with Ekiti State University grouped with Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Kwara State University, (KWASU), University of Ilorin, Afe Babalola University and Al-Hikma University.

Photo credit: today.ng