Desmond Ojieh, Daniel Hassan Eye Slots At 2024 Olympic Games

Two Lagos-based youngsters, Daniel Hassan Adeshina and Desmond Ojieh have come out with bold declarations that they want to be part of Nigeria’s contingent to the next Olympic Games in Paris, France, megasportsarena.com reports.

This is despite the fact that they are both still teenagers and currently in secondary school, but Ojieh believes his efforts so far as budding athlete, specializing in 100m, 200m and sprint relays, would have blossomed enough when Paris 2024 comes up three years from now.

Same goes for Adeshina, who is blending his talents in chess and table tennis, with a view to making waves in both events, especially in the ping-pong sport, from which he believes he can grow rapidly over the next couple of years and snowball into a medalist at Paris 2024.

Although Ojieh is now 16 and Adeshina 13, they both stressed that they have what it takes to shine at the next Olympiad, which will hold three years from now, considering that the recently concluded Tokyo 2020 had been shifted from last year due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

With just three years to go before Paris 2024 comes on board, analysts would reckon that only tried and tested athletes would make the roster for Team Nigeria and probably stand better chances of returning home with medals dangling down their chests, but Ojieh and Adeshina both have different verdicts to buttress.

Both teenagers added that they are happy with the support they continue receiving from people around them, as they keep growing fast through the ranks of table tennis, chess and athletics respectively.

They were on Wednesday both granted audience by Silverbird Television and got a huge avenue to reveal themselves to a wide public view, as they fielded questions for 15 minutes on the mid-morning programme, Sports Café, anchored by Blessing Nwosu-Ukegbu.

It was such a rewarding and revealing time on live television, as the female sports broadcaster fondly called ‘Bouncing Blessing’ took both youngsters through a series of questions about their hobbies, academics, mentors, sports and general aspirations in life.

Before going on air with Nwosu-Ukegbu, who is a renowned personality in the comity of Lagos State chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (Lagos SWAN), both lads had the privilege of special counseling and broadcast drills from a young member of the STV sports’ desk, Gbemi Popoola, who recently graduated from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

While encouraging the lads on how to combine academics with sports, Popoola pointed out that he is able to work as a broadcaster, despite having read economics at the university, due to his zeal to always excel in many fields of human endeavour and be involved in various walks of life.

Popoola, however, admitted that he was unable to embark on a career in professional football because the school authorities warned him when it was time for examinations that he must always pick academics first, which eventually prevented him from participating at a major soccer competition that could have exposed him to scouts from Europe.

In similar vein, Nwosu-Ukegbu took the lads through some exciting enquiries on the live sports programme, during which she advised them to think more about Nigerian stars as their role models, rather than keep mentioning foreign ones.

That came after Ojieh, who is the new games’ prefect at Will-B School, mentioned now-retired Jamaican ace, Usain Bolt as his role model, but confessed that he did not know anything about Chidi Imoh, Innocent Egbunike, the Ezenwa brothers, Falilat Ogunkoya and others.

Same was the case for Adeshina, who plays table tennis and chess, but could not mention Aruna Quadri, Funke Oshonaike or Offiom Edem as his role models in the ping-pong sport, nor could he talk about Wellington Jighere in the game of intelligent grandmasters.

Adeshina, though, did single out largely unheralded Bode Abiodun as a Nigerian table tennis player he looks up to, while also mentioning two Lagos State tacticians, Coach Ope and Coach Lawal, as his current mentors during his training sessions at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.

While Adeshina agreed with ‘Bouncing Blessing’ that he would be fully established as a sports star for Team Nigeria in the next five years, Ojieh posited a four-year target for himself.

Ojieh added: “My own view is that I am not too young to represent Nigeria, even now that I am just 16. In fact, I hope to be at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

“I have started receiving training under Coach Dennis at Teslim Balogun Stadium and he is really directing me very well. Sometimes I feel that the training is too hard, but I know that it is what I need in order to grow and become a sports star.

“I am working on it and I know God will help me to succeed. I am also working on how to combine academics with sports. I am already making my impact felt in competitions with my school and around the nearby community. I believe that I will soon start running for Nigeria.

“At the same time, I am not allowing training to affect my education. That’s why I spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday going to school, and then I go to training only on Saturday. I believe this will help me to become something in future with both of them.”

Adeshina submitted: “I am 13 years old, going to 14. I got the inspiration to play table tennis and chess through my older brother, David. He was two years ago the head boy at Will-B School and he is now in Osun State University, but he also plays table tennis and chess.

“I gain more inspiration in chess from Magnus Carlsen. He’s an international player from Europe, but I made him my role model because we share the same date of birth, November 30, and we often chat on social media. He told me to always take my education very seriously, but that I can play chess when I am less busy.

“That’s why I have two targets for myself in the next five years. I believe that I will be in 100 or 200 level at the university by that time, yet already playing chess and table tennis for Nigeria. Even now, I am hoping to start playing for Nigeria and hopefully be at the next Olympic Games.

“I am not too young for that, because it’s all about the skills I can give, not my age, and I believe that the support I am getting from Will-B School’s proprietor, Elder Williams Olaoye, and the principal, Mr Gboyega Adeuyi, as well as all the teachers will help me a lot. Thank you.”