Future Secured tourney aimed at promoting education – Isyaku
1st Vice president and captain of the 1212 Polo club Isyaku Idris talks to Fever Pitch about the upcoming ‘Future Secured’ international tournament which will parade some of the biggest names in the sport, the tourney is set to commence on Wednesday in Abuja.
Tell us more about upcoming international polo tournament? The Tournament is tagged Future Secured International Polo Tournament and is themed towards creating awareness to the state of Education in the Northeast of Nigeria. It commences from November 9 to 13, 2016; 3pm to 6pm daily.
How would you describe preparations for the tourney so far?
The preparations are going quite well. We even have some of the teams already stabling their ponies in our stables in preparation for the games. Why will this year’s event be better than last year’s?
This year’s event promises to be better because last year was our maiden edition. It implies that whatever challenges we faced or the human errors we have made, we are working towards correcting them in this year’s event. In terms of coverage, we are in partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) who have been doing their bit in promoting the tournament, and the need for all of us to galvanise efforts in projecting education in Nigeria, particularly the Northeast where insurgency has destroyed and a lot. We also have a wonderful relationship with the Argentine Embassy, as you are aware, Argentina is the center of Polo in the world. Polo tournaments in Nigeria are made more competitive and exciting by including high seeded Argentine players into the teams. We believe relationships like that gains us mileage in our journey of getting better every tournament.
The President Cup will be contested for, how prestigious is that trophy?
It is one of our most prestigious cups and it is of high goal status; it is rightly so because the President’s Cup is in honour of the serving President, past Presidents and Heads of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In last year’s event, it was keenly and evenly contested by Profile Polo Team and Max Air. For this year, we also have teams of +9 handicap and above and it promises to be a game to watch especially with the crop of players in the competing teams.
Is there going to be other side attractions to be offered by hosts 1212 club?
As much as we would not the thrills of the game of kings share the
limelight with any other event, on the final day which is 13th of November 2016, we shall be unveiling the Argentine Ambassador’s Cup for Polo and President’s Cup and Abuja Derby Cup for Horseracing. There is also going to be an art exhibition that will help polo enthusiasts while away time in between matches.
What about plans to donate part of generated revenue to education considering it’s the theme for the event?
Foremost, the club is in phases but ultimately driven as a Nigerian Project because of our passion for the country and equestrian sports.
At this phase, the drives to project Nigeria and also promote equestrian sports takes precedence over revenue generation which is equally vital but as other phases unravel.
As an emerging center for Polo, Horseracing, and equestrian sports, our resources are committed to creating awareness for impending situations in the country so as to draw the attention of Nigerians and the International community towards lasting solutions.
For instance, in the November 2015 International Polo Tournament, we created awareness to the conditions of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) especially in the Northeast, and we also advocated for the families of fallen heroes of Nigeria armed forces, who died in active service.
This year, while we commend the armed forces for their efforts in the Northeast where normalcy is gradually returned to the populace, we feel the need to sensitise people on the condition of education as we all know the sector has been grossly ravaged by the insurgency.
Schools were destroyed and students were killed so this implies that the battle of securing the future of the Northeast is in two fronts. We have to put heads together to restore the infrastructure, and we have to send assuring messages to the people in that region to be willing to send their children back to school.