Judo Boss Charges Stakeholders On Discipline

TAIWO ADELU 

Representative of North Central Zone on the board of Nigeria Judo Federation, Alhaji Damisa Suleiman has charged stakeholders in the sport to see discipline as their watchword.

Suleiman said that an environment where there is no discipline, there won’t be progress and development.

“I want to admonish judo stakeholders to stick to their various discipline. There should always be a line between a coach and a referee while on national tournament. There should not be interference from some stakeholders out of the selected officials while bout is going on,even among some board members making the technical body and juries almost useless.He, ” said Suleiman, who is planning to organise Governor Yahaya Bello U-17 Judo Championships later this month.

The judo technocrat urged the coaches to develop themselves and always go for players to train and use for competitions, as this will not only add values to their career but to the sport as a whole.

Meanwhile, preparation for the Governor Yahaya Bello U-17 Judo Championship in Lokoja, Kogi state is in top gear.

The grassroots competition, which will hold at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, will see judokas from the North Central region of the country and clubs across Nigeria fighting for honours from 28-30 September, 2017.

According to Alhaji Suleiman, who is facilitating the competition, the zonal Championship is being staged not only to celebrate Gov Bello but to also to discover budding young talent for the sport of Judo in Nigeria.

He said: “We are mobilising all resources for the competition as our Chief Host, His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello is a man who has the youth in his heart and more importantly, he believes in youth empowerment. That is the reason we are organising this competition in his honour, ” Alhaji Suleiman said.

He said that the judokas will compete in seven weight categories for both boys and girls events. The boys will compete in 25kg, 36kg, 44kg, 57kg, 70kg and 90kg, while the girls will fight in 25kg, 36kg, 46kg, 56kg, 70kg and 90kg weights.

The championship has received support from organisations such as Grand Cereal Oil Limited, Joseph, Plateau State, ESS Project Concept Limited, Lokoja, Royal Kitchen, Lokoja, ESS Farm Centre, HRP Farm Limited, Kaduna, Kogi Local Government