Sports
THE Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports says a National Draught Federation is underway.
Mr Sylvester Essiet, the ministry’s Zonal Coordinator for the South South Zone, said this on Friday at the opening of the second edition of the International Draught Tournament holding in Benin, Edo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that draught is played by two people each with 12 round pieces on a board of 64 squares.
Essiet said that draught, being a game of intelligence, would be encouraged to become a sport in the national festival.
“We were here at the maiden edition where we commended the organisers and promised to help grow the sports.
“We have received their application and this is receiving attention. We have asked them to go round states by way of sensitisation and acceptability of the game.
“On our part, we are working round the clock to see how we can make it a non scoring game at the next festival so as to give it the needed exposure and acceptability.
“We are looking forward to creating a draught federation from there,’’ he said.
Declaring the tournament open, the Commissioner for Youths and Special Duties in Edo, Mr Mika Amanokha , said the state government would partner the organisers to ensure that the sport became a counting event in subsequent national sporting events.
“For now, the state government is carrying out remodeling of infrastructure across the state;
“ But when the time comes, we will engage the organisers in looking at the possibility of adding draught to the Edo Sports Festival,’’ he said.
Earlier, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, said the organisers decided to use the tournament to erase the erroneous belief that draught was “for lazy and jobless people in the society.’’
He described draught as a physically engaging sport which requires intelligence and deployment of strategies.
“Already, because of the competitiveness and impressive performance of Baylesa athletes at the maiden edition, the Bayelsa state government has promised to introduce the game in school sports in all local government areas.
“We had a two-nation tournament at the maiden edition featuring Nigeria and Ghana and this year, players from Cameroon have registered their participation.
“Next year, we also hope to increase the prize money to N2 million in the premier category and N500,000 in the first division,’’ he said.
NAN reports that Bayelsa-born Doubra Otuku, who emerged champion at the maiden edition in 2017 and wining the star N500,000 prize, had expressed optimism of retaining the title.
“I will do everything possible to retain my title and win the N1 million prize money,’’ he had said while speaking with NAN.
– July 6, 2018 @ 14:25 GMT |
Tags: Draught Federation underway—Ministry
