The new president of International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Mohammed Jaloud has expressed delight over the progress being made by the sport. Jaloud spoke after the first meeting he presided over as the head of the world weightlifting body held last week in Lausanne, Switzerland. Coming together for the first time since their election, there was a packed agenda set for the new leadership. Among the most important topics was the Olympic status as well as the foundation and future of weightlifting. The discussions focused on the core principles of the IWF, including reviewing the past culture versus the new philosophy of the organisation and next steps in continuing to clean up the sport. Each member of the Executive Board committed to supporting the good governance initiatives already implemented and to the continued improvement of transparency and integrity within the sport. Furthermore, concrete steps were agreed including commissioning the International Testing Agency (ITA) to increase the number of out-of-competitions tests.
Additionally, an international auditing firm will now be appointed to perform a detailed financial, governance and operational due diligence of the IWF covering the past ten years. The final report will be presented to the IWF Ordinary Congress in December this year. Also, using the learnings from the recent Electoral Congress, a review of the IWF Constitution will be made to identify any needs for adjusting operational regulations. And lastly, an adjustment will be made to the current financial management regulations and procedures to ensure a clear link between costs and obtained results. Additional points discussed also included the upcoming events for this year and next year, the support of athletes and member federations, the improvement of sponsorship and ways in which to promote the sport of weightlifting throughout the world. IWF President Mohammed Jaloud commented, “It was great to have the new Executive Board come together here in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital, and home of the IWF headquarters. With so many new Executive Board members, it was important for us to come together in unity to focus on the future of our sport. We are moving forward on all fronts and are strictly in line with the IOC requirements.”
IWF General Secretary Antonio Urso said, “This was a very productive first meeting with the new Executive Board, there was a lot of positive energy. We had some great discussions and made some important decisions for weightlifting; we are looking forward to sharing more on next steps with our members and partners in the coming weeks and months ahead. But we can already promise that transparency will be at the core of everything that the IWF does from now on – including having the detailed minutes of our meeting being published very soon on the IWF website.”
NPFL: Egbe congratulates Remo Stars on continental ticket
Chief Executive Officer of Monimichelle Group, Ebi Egbe has congratulated Remo Stars on their continental ticket. Remo over the weekend defeated Niger Tornadoes by 3-0 to finish third on the NPFL log, thus securing ticket to play in the CAF Confederation Cup. Interestingly, the Ikenne Warriors only made their debut in the top flight this season. Speaking on the feat, Egbe said he is proud of Remo Stars and the club president, Kunle Soname who he described as one who has a lot of passion for the round leather game. Egbe whose outfit constructed Remo’s Ikenne stadium turf noted that given the state of the art turf Remo play on at home, the performance of the club is not coming as a surprise. “I congratulate them and I am happy Monimichelle is part of the club’s success story just like Enyimba.”
Olukoya women’s basketball championship set to go international
The 3rd Dr. & Dr. (Mrs) D K Olukoya Women Basketball Championship will welcome teams from outside Nigeria next year. This much was revealed by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Director of Sports, Godwin Enakhena. This he said is to further expand MFM General Overseer, Dr. Daniel Olukoya’s youth empowerment programme called 70 Points Youth repositioning Agenda. Speaking at the end of the 2nd edition of the event in Lagos, Enakhena said Dr. Olukoya will stop at nothing at empowering African youths through sports. “The story of MFM and Sports are inseparable because of Dr. Olukoya’s vision of using sports to engage the youth which is unwavering. When we started the Dr. & Dr. (Mrs.) D K Olukoya Women Basketball Championship last year, it had only 8 teams participating but that number increased to 12 this year. Eight teams came from outside Lagos, which shows how the championship has grown within a year.
“And interestingly, we’ve received messages from women basketball teams in Togo, Ghana and Benin Republic asking to be part of next years edition. I trust Dr Olukoya to give the go ahead to have these African countries join the party next year”, revealed the pioneer MFM Football Club chairman. Enakhena who is a Sports journalist explained that MFM will be liaising with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) towards having a hitch free championship come next year because it will be an African event. Dr Olukoya’s investment in sports has given birth to a football club, MFMFC, a wrestling club, a women basketball club that have produced quality athletes who have represented Nigeria. First Bank Women Basketball Club of Lagos defeated MFM Women Basketball Club of Lagos to successfully defend the title they won last year at the end of hostilities at the Indoor Sports Hall of the national Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
