In a bid to further propel the game of cricket to the mainstream of the Nation’s sports, the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) is planning to approach the organisers of next year National Sports Festival with a view to feature cricket in Calabar festival.
The Federation noted that national Sports Festival is a strong platform that could help achieve its goal of making the game popular in the country.
A board member and Media Officer of the Federation, Kayode Adeniyi disclosed that the board will soon visit Calabar to meet with the Sports Commissioner and the state Director of sports to discuss the possibility and advantage of having the game feature at the sports festival.
His words, “Since we came on board, we have been making effort to see how to make the game gain ground in Nigeria. Though, we have our road map on how we want to achieve our goal but we also feel that the National Sports Festival will be a good platform to sell the game to the minds of Nigerians. We shall be meeting with all those concerned with the hosting of the game and we pray that they will see sense in what we are saying,”
Adeniyi said while in Calabar, they would be making a donation of Cricket equipment to the state while also partnering with the state Cricket Association to organise a coaching clinic among schools and basic coaching courses for sports officers in Calabar.
He also said that the NCF will provide technical support in the development of cricket pitch while the host state will provide the facilities. Kayode also maintained that the NCF will include coaching personnel from Cross river in future coaching courses.
On whether they would be able to raise enough team to feature at the Games, the Media Officer said that so many states have started playing the game assuring that getting enough representation to participate at the Games will never be a challenge.
“What people do not know is that so many states play cricket now in Nigeria. Though, not so much noise is made about them, but they are there. We are very sure that if we are allowed to participate at the Calabar Games we will not be short of the numbers of team to participate,” he assured.
