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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Sports Commission (NSC) has graciously approved the request by the Nigeria Polo Association to host World Polo Championship qualifiers in Abuja next month.
Chairman of the Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, gave the approval when he hosted the officials of the Polo Association in his office in Abuja on Monday, assuring that government will perfect all the arrangements to ensure a successful hosting of the event billed for November 9 to 16.
Dikko said that apart from the hosting laundering the image of the country and the acruing economic benefits, it is also in line with Federal Government’s policy on sports.
Speaking earlier, the chairman of the Nigeria Polo Association, Alhaji Suleman Abubakar, had revealed that the international body has recognised the efforts of the leadership of his association by granting it the hosting right for the qualifiers.
Suleman, in his request to the Commission, said: “The world, Federation of International Polo, has recognised the efforts of our administration, and granted us the rights to host the World Polo Championship qualifiers for the first time in over 20 years of Polo in Nigeria. This is the result of the efforts of our association, and in recognition of our effort.
“It shows that the country is indeed, breaking more grounds in the world. The granting of the hosting right shows that the world is taking note of Nigeria and the progress we are making. This championship will take place in Abuja at the Guards Polo Club from November 9 to 16.
“The participating countries include; India, Iran, Pakistan, and then Nigeria, the host nation. We constituted Zone E of the Federation of International Polo. It is a 12-member countries, but only four of us have achieved the sort of level of advancement in Polo development to qualify at a graded handicap of 14. We are the senior members of that zone, and it is also a testament to how far Nigerian polo has gone.
“We are here to brief the chairman and the commission, and to seek your support and cooperation in quite a few spheres, including, of course, being the chief host for this event, and also needing considerable resources to help us to promote this event of very national and international significance,” he requested.
Responding, the NSC boss, said: “I don’t know whether we have hosted it before because I have followed polo for quite some time. I haven’t had this before. I have had friendly matches that have been played between Nigeria and other countries. it is quite almost positive to get into some. and I can tell you indeed what we are doing clearly sits and speaks to what we are trying to do as a national sports commission.
“Part of the mandate we have that President Bola Tinubu Renewed Hope initiative for Nigeria Sports is to use sports as a tool for economic advancement, and indeed a part of our advancement of our global power through the soft power of sports.
“We don’t just see these things as hosting an event; it is also an economy on itself. If you look at any time you are having a Polo tournament or an event, the people that are involved in the game, the people around there are thousands that that will get job opportunities that will be able to have some economic advancement through that.
“Even those that sell sarchet water around the programme venue will make out something. What we are doing clearly is what we are trying to do. Therefore, it’s natural for us to see what we continue to provide you with whatever enablers we can, whatever support we can that are within our own limited abilities.
“We will be able to do that to make sure this is a success. We will not see it as just Polo association event, it.is Nigeria event. We have to key into it to see what we could do within what we could do together. We just ensure that we be able to look at that, see what how we can work to make this a success,” he promised.
