Ibadan hosts Lead City Indoor Hockey tourney

Teams from across the country will gather in Ibadan today for the fifth edition of the Lead City Indoor Five-A-Side Hockey Championship, which will flick-off with 25 sides.

The event, the first in the series of competitions in the 2015 calendar of the Nigeria Hockey Federation, would witness action in the male and female categories at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Lead City University.  It will end on Saturday.

The Tournament Director, Mrs. Lade Aloba, promised a world-class event that will be run strictly on the rules governing world indoor hockey.

She assured all participants of quality officiating, as only top class hockey umpires would be allowed to officiate matches, adding that one-time Nigeria’s best umpire, Salisu Jabbo, would be on ground as Umpires’ Judge and Coordinator.

Aloba, a former Nigerian hockey international said all the teams would enjoy adequate security provided by the management of the Lead City University.

He added: “The management of the school would as usual offer scholarship to brilliant players in the competition. We have mouth-watering prizes that would be taken home by winners, and the main attraction of this year’s event is the individual awards donated by former Nigeria international star, UK-based Sanjo Jones. These would be presented to deserving players.

“Mr. Jones, a former Union Bank of Lagos hockey star, who also played professional hockey in Italy for 10 years, has donated awards for the Highest Goal Scorer, the Most Valuable Player in both the male and female categories. There is also an award for the best media coverage. We are very grateful as these would boost the standard of competition.”

The Police Machine Hockey team of Abuja is the defending champion in the male class, while Oyo Queens won the female category last year.