Rivers, Plateau clinch Maiden National Hockey 5s Championships

Team Rivers on Saturday in Ibadan defeated hosts Team Oyo State 2-1 to win the male title of the maiden edition of the National Hockey Federation 5s Championships.

Team Kano State came third after beating Team Lagos 2-1 also.

In the women’s category, Plateau Queens came first after defeating the Rocket team of Oyo State, with Rivers coming third after defeating Lagos by 2-1.

Speaking after the matches, Danjuma Bello, the Plateau female team’s coach, commended his players for a job well done.

Bella said that his players executed their game plans well.

“Though, there have been a few challenges. Like, when you look at the pitch, it’s not the typical hockey pitch. But it is still a step forward,” the coach said.

Bamidele Garko, the sponsor of the championships, said the tournament was borne out of the desire to develop and expand the competitive scope of the game of hockey across the nation.

“This experience will open us to several doors of opportunities in the game of hockey, both locally and globally.

“Nigeria is increasingly growing in this innovation, after finishing second in Africa in 2022 and 15th in the world.

“It has been an exciting and keenly contested tournament. We look forward to more of these engagements in all aspects of the game, including indoors, beach, and para,” she said.

Garko said this development would reposition the game in Nigeria and make it a veritable tool for making societal vices in youths reduce.

“The rate of hooliganism and number of lazy youths in our society will definitely reduce,” the Second Vice-President of Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF) said.

Winners of the championships got N700,000, while the second-placed sides got N500,000 and the third-placed teams received N250,000 in both the male and female categories.

Best goalkeeper award winners in the female and male categories, Jennifer Dakwat and Abass Akande respectively, received N10,000 cash prizes.

The same applied to the highest goal scorers female and male categories, Benedicta Johnson and Mohammed Inuwa respectively.

Equally, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) female and male categories, Morufat Adeyemi and Sunday Godwin respectively, also got N10,000 each.