Lagos – Coaches at the on-going Season 8 of the Channels Kids Cup say they are satisfied with the level of organisation and quality of game put up by the participating schools.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the eight-year-old competition is in the national stage with winners at state levels featuring.
The competition is holding at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
Coach Ariki Abdul of Qua Iboe Primary School, Idah, Kogi, expressing happiness for reaching the final stage, thanked the organisers for a better packaged edition of the tournament.
“This is our first time of coming to this Channel Kids Cup competition, so, we are happy to be here, we don’t have anything to say than to thank the organisers.
“We organised the preliminaries in Kogi which was won by us so that is why we are here to represent the state and so far we have performed beyond expectations.
“After emerging winners in Kogi, then we kept the players together and trained them as one before coming here; we do ball walk, we do shooting exercise and body fitness.
“We thank God for coming this far, my players have shown resilience and determination to win the competition,’’ he said.
The coach of Osun representatives, Olaposi Abiola from Saint James Government School, Aiyetoro, Oshogbo, said that though they lost their semi-finals game, they would try their luck in the third place match.
“The standard of the game has been high so far and I want to congratulate Channels, the organisers of this game for a job well done.
“We set targets for ourselves before leaving and we were determined to carry the cup, but we lost to Kaduna which is not a bad performance.
“We thank our state government for its support to this level, we are still hoping to go home with at least a third place medal,’’ he said.
NAN reports that in the semi-finals, Petals Primary School, Kaduna defeated Saint James Government School, Aiyetoro, Oshogbo 2-0.
Qua Iboe Primary School, Idah, Kogi also defeated Government Primary School Edo 1-0.
Petals Primary School Kaduna will play Qua Iboe Primary School in the final, while Saint James Government School Oshogbo and Government Primary School Edo will battle for the third place winner later on Friday. (NAN)