The Caretaker committee chairman of the Nigeria Darts Federation (NDF), Abubakar Haruna, has called on stakeholders to focus on secondary schools, in promoting the development of the sport at the grassroots.
Haruna disclosed this on Saturday, in Abuja, at the closing ceremony of the maiden edition of the Harmony Envoy International Initiatives (GHEII) National open darts championship.
He said that focusing on secondary schools was key to the nation’s progress in the sport.
“The foundational age of any growing child is between the ages of nine and 17 and you can find them in junior and senior secondary schools.
“This is the best stage to fully introduce the sport to the grassroots. The primary schools are important, but it is just majorly to make the game popular among the kids.
“It is in secondary schools that the children can go for competitions, be more exposed and have a better understanding of the game.
“It is at this stage that we witness more followership of the sport and interest in playing the game professionally. This will help us to harness a lot of talents in the states,” he said.
He appreciated GHEII for sponsoring the maiden edition of the Championships.
“Sports is all about passion. An administrator who has passion for sports development will not settle for anything less, other than exploring every opportunity to discover talents.
“This is an area where all stakeholders must focus on, if we want to develop the game, we have not hosted this type of tournament for a very long time,’’ Haruna said.
He said that the federation also needed more sponsors to organise more competitions.
“The governor of Abia once helped and sponsored one of our events, we are hoping that one or two governors will sponsor our subsequent events,” he said.
Jerry Ifeanyi, a representative of GHEII, the sponsor of the championships, said the vision of GHEII was to put a global stop to the immigration crisis, as well as reduce the rate of crime globally.
“We are working hard to (also) help and support the development of sports, and see how we can help to grow other areas of some sports in Nigeria,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that players from 12 states, the FCT and four clubs, participated in the four-day championship, which ended on Saturday.
The states were Bayelsa, Abia, Lagos, Benue, Imo, Kwara, Rivers, Delta, Ogun, Edo, Niger and Oyo states, while the clubs included the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), United Nigeria Textiles Limited (UNTL) Kaduna, and the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria. (NAN)
