A landmark Wheelchair American Football exhibition was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria recently, with plans underway to establish a wheelchair American football super league in the West African nation.

Oliver Ochieng, Marabou News Agency

The American Football for Elite Development (AFEDEV) is in advance talks to establish a Wheelchair American Football Super League in Nigeria.

This is after the recent successful hosting of the country’s landmark Wheelchair American Football Exhibition in Lagos.

Supported by the U.S Consulate in Nigeria and other partners, the four team exhibition event held at the Basketball Court of the National Institute for Sports (NIS) was well attended with stakeholders affirming support toward the growth and sustainability of the initiative.

Players and officials expressed excitement with the opportunity to showcase their talent, while commending AFEDEV’s efforts to develop the sport in Nigeria.

“Keep training, keep recruiting friends that you know are also talented and eventually develop enough knowledge to be a coach yourself because that is what it takes to spread the sport. Even after retirement you can still stay with it, create your own team, coach your own players,” said coach Dominik Muller, one of the trainers who attended the event.

AFEDEV founder Lawrence Ojaideh hailed the athletes for commitment, dedication, vision, skills and determination displayed during the one-day event, adding that more is in store for them.

“We want to set up a league to enable these athletes to compete at the highest level. A league that will prepare them for greater opportunities. That league may play a season or two in a year, that is being finalized by the board as we speak. And that season will start from 2027. So, we believe that what has happened today will make them look ahead towards that league to be able to show their skills,” he stated.

Christiana Olowolagba, one of the players, was amazed by what she saw during the exhibition matches.

“Wow, wow, wow. It’s a lovely game. I never believed we could have that in Nigeria. Being the first American wheelchair basketball players in Nigeria is great. They don’t do jokes. The way I used to watch it in America, I thought it was something that is very hard for us to play,” the athlete said.

“When the Ables play, I’ve never seen the wheelchair playing it. This is my first time. So, when we have our coaches, they show us the game where wheelchair players do play wheelchair American football. So, I say that yes, we can do it.”

During the exhibition, Liberty Pioneers proved to be the best of competing quartets as they emerged winners defeating Atlantic Charger 10-3-in the decider.

Marabou News Agency

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The team is currently camping at the Zambia Sports Development Centre in Lusaka. Zambia is targeting a breakthrough after a string of group-stage exits in previous editions.

Bonface Osano, Marabou News Agency

Zambia’s U18 men’s handball national team is stepping up preparations for the 22nd African Handball Confederation (CAHB) African men’s youth handball championship, set for September 15-22 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The team, currently camping at the Zambia Sports Development Centre in Lusaka, is targeting a breakthrough after a string of group-stage exits in previous editions.

Head coach Andrew Kalunga says he has studied Zambia’s opponents and is working on exploiting their weaknesses.

He says the team is nearly ready for the continental showpiece, with the final focus on tightening their defence.

“The team is preparing well and, as you can see, the morale is high among the boys. They are much prepared for the tournament,” Kalunga said.

Zambia have been drawn in Group D alongside hosts Ivory Coast, Guinea and Burundi.

Kalunga believes Zambia’s previous encounters with their group opponents give his side confidence heading into the tournament.

“Since we have played them before, we know how they play. This time, there’s a high possibility of winning,” Kalunga added.

Fourteen teams will compete in the tournament, including defending champions Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Rwanda.

The Abidjan tournament will also serve as Africa’s official qualifying event for the 2027 International Handball Federation (IHF) men’s youth world championship, with the hosts set to be announced later.

Marabou News Agency

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Two years to the Olympic Games, Esther Mbah and Pamela Bawa are the pride of Nigerians, after securing the direct LA28 Olympic Games spot in beach volleyball.

by Marabou News Agency Staff

Nigeria’s women’s beach volleyball team made history by qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the United States of America (USA).

Esther Mbah and Pamela Bawa secured the first-ever Olympic spot for Nigeria after defeating Morocco 2-0 (21-17, 21-10) in the final of the African Beach Volleyball Championship in Alexandria, Egypt on Saturday, August 22.

It marks the first time a Nigerian beach volleyball team has qualified for the Olympics. Speaking on their return to Nigeria after the historic feat, captain Esther Mbah said the stakes were too high for them, after their 2024 Olympics Games bid was curtailed by Egypt.

“I think the last Olympic qualifiers Paris 2024, we lost to the Egyptian team and that alone, it made us go back to the drawing table and we had to reset and made up our minds to be resilient and going for this competition, because we want to make a name for ourselves and make our country proud and to qualify for LA 2028,” said Mbah.

Coach Kayode Ajilore said they were so determined to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games.

“As a matter of fact, when we got to Alexandra, what I told the players was that we are here for a revenge mission because the key teams, the countries that we met, especially at the quarter-final stages, were the team that have defeated us before,” the coach said.

“I told them that this time around, definitely it’s going to be a revenge mission that all of them, we are going to beat them and to God be the glory, it was much easier than expected.”

Musa Nimrod, president of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation believes after the qualification, work starts in earnest to prepare the team ahead of the Games.

“I have to look for world tours for them, they have to do about five world tours, yes, if not, if they don’t get that ranking very well, they will fall into a very terrible group, because if you don’t do that, forget it, even world championship, you still need world tours.”

“They have qualified for the world championship, they have qualified for the LA, that’s the pride of any player, but I want to tell you that we have to go for world tours and nothing less than five, so that is where the big work is going to be.”

Two years to the Olympic Games, Esther Mbah and Pamela Bawa are the pride of Nigerians, after overcoming near-misses for Nigeria at prior continental qualifiers, including Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024 to secure the direct LA28 Olympic Games spot.

Marabou News Agency

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