Sports

THE News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday lost on penalties to the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in the finals of the football game of the 2022 Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Week.

The game played at the practice pitch of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja was a repeat of the 2021 edition.

NAN began on an attacking note, having beaten Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in the semi finals earlier in the game, but failed to utilize its chances.

It was Pius Kuyanbana of NTA who broke the deadlock 15 minutes in the game before highest goal scorer of the tournament, Mohammed Mairiga equalised for NAN 10minutes later.

Efforts from both teams to increase the lead for their sides was futile as they shared spoils after regulation time, needing penalties to settle scores.

NTA, however, edged the hard fighting NAN team 3-2 in a nerve racking penalty shoot-out.

After the match, Muhyideen Jimoh, coach of NAN Football Team, lauded the players for giving their all in the game.

“I am very impressed and proud of the players. We haven’t trained enough as we should and earlier it looked like it would be a concern.

“But, we were able to manage the time and resources we had at our disposal to train and participate in this edition emerging runners up. I would say kudos to the team.

“We actually played better, but you know with penalties, it can swing anyway, however this would not deter us from coming stronger next year,” Jimoh said.

On his part, Mohammed Mairiga, the highest goal scorer with six goals in three matches, is hopeful that the team would gain more motivation from NAN management.

“I am happy to be highest goal scorer but it is a team effort. The team made it possible.

“It’s disappointing for us to lose to NTA again but we hope that we can train more and gain more motivation from the Agency,” Mairiga said.

Meanwhile, Saidu Waziri, NTA sports club manager, lauded his team’s performance adding that their victory was borne out of a collective effort of everyone in the team.

Silas Nwoha, Editor-In-Chief of NAN, who was part of the guests present at the event, praised SWAN for their efforts in sports reportage, while pledging support of NAN management to the team. (NAN)

KN

Tags: Mohammed Mairiga Muhyideen Jimoh Pius Kuyanbana Silas Nwoha SWAN