Olulayo sure of Olympics football ticket
Seun Olulayo remains positive that Nigeria will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil after the 2015 Africa U-23 Championship in Senegal.
The Sunshine Stars player, who is one of the 35 local based professionals called for the U-23 competition to select Africa’s representatives to the quadrennial multisport showpiece, stated that Nigeria is a big name in African football and the level of competition in camp shows that the Dream Team VI mean business.
“It’s no child play in camp ad everybody is fighting really hard to represent Nigeria at the Africa U-23 Championship in Senegal,” Olulayo told Goal.
“With the level of competition in camp and the determination and efforts of the technical crew, it would be suicidal not to qualify for the Olympics.
“We are prepared and ready to pounce on any team that comes our way. All is set and we are good to go. At the All
Two-time Africa Champions Cup for Women winner First Bank Basketball Club of Nigeria is confident of picking one of the two tickets from Zone-3 qualifier slated for Cotonou, Benin Republic from November 5 through 11th, 2015.
The club currently camping in the Cotonou ahead the technical meeting billed for November 4 is in high spirit and ready for action.
Coach of the side, Peter Ahmedu said in a chat at the weekend that the players are responding very well to training.
Coach Ahmedu, who until last week was the coach of Mark Mentors Basketball Club of Abuja, joined First Bank after a brief reorganization by the club management and has promised to deliver.
Ahmedu, who is not new to women basketball, having worked with the defunct Dodan Amazon Basketball Club of Lagos, is determined to prove a point that his appointment as the tactician of the African Games, we played good football against some of the best on the continent. This time around, we will put extra efforts because we are fully aware of what is at stake.”
Nigeria have been drawn in Group B of the tournament where they will face Egypt, Algeria and Mali while hosts Senegal headline Group A which has South Africa, Zambia and Tunisia.
The tournament will commence on November 28 and run till December 12.
The country missed out of the London 2012 Olympics having failed to qualify through the 2011 African U23 Championship staged in Morocco.