Qualifying for the Winter Olympics: Nigerian junior curlers show great promise despite tough run in Finland
The young group of curlers representing Nigeria at the ongoing World Junior B Curling Championships in Lohja, Finland, have what it takes to become world beaters in a few years.
That was the claim made by Daniel Damola, President of the Nigerian Curling Federation, NCF, when he reviewed the country's performance so far in Finland.
According to the NCF President, the outing to Finland is more of a revelation for the Nigerian contingent, who are only being exposed to competition on ice for the very first time.
Even with the defeats recorded in the games against Latvia, Austria, Spain and then Italy, Mr Damola noted that the players have shown great potential which can be developed with the right resources and the good support system,
"When the team played against Latvia, they lost 0-24, which was their first experience because they only had two days to train.
"You can imagine children who come from sub-Saharan Africa and who have never been on the ice previously get on the ice, have less than 48 hours of training on how to slide, get out of the bow, throw rocks, play pier res and then scan at the same time within the 24-48 hour window to practice.
"I think the fact that these kids have something in them says a lot."
Having shown great improvement as they progressed in their group games; especially in Friday's draw against Italy, the NCF chairman is confident the lads are well on their way to stardom.
“They are the future of curling, watch out for them. You will see these kids will be world champions because I think they played so well. The only thing that worked against them was placement stone due to their lack of experience and this is the first time they have walked on ice.
"I think we can do better in our next games. I think we will do better because the first time they played, they won five against us in the first set, and in the second set. It was six, then they went down to 3, 4, 2 and so on.
"They're back and we think they'll do better because they lacked some technical details when they first played the ice. And then to play an international championship of this magnitude, they also played against older kids who may have had the experience of maybe 5, 6, 10 years ahead of them. They did well,” added the enthusiastic NCF President.
Kamsiyochukwu Emmanuel Dike (Skip), Ebube Daniel Chukwuemeka (Vice-Skip), Fatiu Adedamola Danmola, Goodnews Idongesit Charles and Great Aniedi Umoren are Nigeria's historic curlers in the men's category.
The current World Junior B Curling Championships are open to junior teams from all member associations of the World Curling Federation that have not yet qualified for the World Junior Curling Championships.
The top three women's and men's teams will qualify from this event for the World Junior Curling Championships.
Support the integrity and credibility journalism of PREMIUM TIMES Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can guarantee the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy and a transparent government.
The young group of curlers representing Nigeria at the ongoing World Junior B Curling Championships in Lohja, Finland, have what it takes to become world beaters in a few years.
That was the claim made by Daniel Damola, President of the Nigerian Curling Federation, NCF, when he reviewed the country's performance so far in Finland.
According to the NCF President, the outing to Finland is more of a revelation for the Nigerian contingent, who are only being exposed to competition on ice for the very first time.
Even with the defeats recorded in the games against Latvia, Austria, Spain and then Italy, Mr Damola noted that the players have shown great potential which can be developed with the right resources and the good support system,
"When the team played against Latvia, they lost 0-24, which was their first experience because they only had two days to train.
"You can imagine children who come from sub-Saharan Africa and who have never been on the ice previously get on the ice, have less than 48 hours of training on how to slide, get out of the bow, throw rocks, play pier res and then scan at the same time within the 24-48 hour window to practice.
"I think the fact that these kids have something in them says a lot."
Having shown great improvement as they progressed in their group games; especially in Friday's draw against Italy, the NCF chairman is confident the lads are well on their way to stardom.
“They are the future of curling, watch out for them. You will see these kids will be world champions because I think they played so well. The only thing that worked against them was placement stone due to their lack of experience and this is the first time they have walked on ice.
"I think we can do better in our next games. I think we will do better because the first time they played, they won five against us in the first set, and in the second set. It was six, then they went down to 3, 4, 2 and so on.
"They're back and we think they'll do better because they lacked some technical details when they first played the ice. And then to play an international championship of this magnitude, they also played against older kids who may have had the experience of maybe 5, 6, 10 years ahead of them. They did well,” added the enthusiastic NCF President.
Kamsiyochukwu Emmanuel Dike (Skip), Ebube Daniel Chukwuemeka (Vice-Skip), Fatiu Adedamola Danmola, Goodnews Idongesit Charles and Great Aniedi Umoren are Nigeria's historic curlers in the men's category.
The current World Junior B Curling Championships are open to junior teams from all member associations of the World Curling Federation that have not yet qualified for the World Junior Curling Championships.
The top three women's and men's teams will qualify from this event for the World Junior Curling Championships.
Support the integrity and credibility journalism of PREMIUM TIMES Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can guarantee the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy and a transparent government.What's Your Reaction?
