The coach of the Akwa Ibom women cricket team, Ogba Osondu Uyok, has expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress at the ongoing 8th National Youth Games in Asaba where they have qualified for the semi-finals.
Coach Ogba said it was a source of joy to see the youngsters record two consecutive victories in what he revealed was their first appearance in a major competition.
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He added in an interview with Sports247 that he is already eyeing a place in the finals, following his team’s back-to-back wins over Taraba and Kebbi States.
Ogba said: “We won against Taraba State in our second match of the tournament. Our first match was against Kebbi State and we also beat them.
“Our victory against Taraba helped us advance to the semi-final. From there, we hope to reach the final and win the gold medal.”
Ogba added that the task ahead for his girls is enormous, because their male colleagues won silver at the last Games and there are high expectations at home that they will go one step further this time.
“Last year our men’s team finished second and we hope the girls will do better this time. We have started well, but in sports you can’t predict the results.
“We are going to take it game by game. We are now looking forward to the match against Osun State or Edo State. The team that wins between them will face us in the semi-final,” Ogba revealed.
She did, however, acknowledge that she is in Asaba with a development team as all the girls are making their debut at this level, but expressed optimism that they will do much better once they are guided and encouraged.
The soft-spoken cricket tactician said: “All the girls we brought here are in their first competition. They are under 15 and it is a challenge for most of them, considering they have never seen these kinds of faces before.
“They had never seen faces like the ones they see now, nor had they played in conditions like these.
“We as coaches always know that it is inevitable that young players are nervous and we cannot avoid it.
“The only thing we can do is encourage them and tell them they can do it.”
He concluded by projecting into the future, based on the possibility of the same group of players continuing to line up when NYG advances to the under-17 category next year.
“Our expectations are even higher for next year, as the commissioner has said that this competition will be for under-17s.
“So we believe that next year we will be able to count on the same group of players and by then they will be more mature,” said coach Ogba enthusiastically.
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