The chairman of Nigeria Diaspora Talents Development Committee (NDTDC), Dr Tunde Adelakun has confessed that he always feels hurt seeing sports talents whose parents hail from the country competiting for other nations in major sports events.
Sports247 reports that Adelakun came out with the down-to-earth revelation while speaking ahead of a friendly match for the diaspora netball team in an exhibition event at the maiden multi-sports competition among talents of Nigerian descent, slated for University of Hertfordshire in London.
Friday’s friendly between Nigeria’s diaspora netball team and a Pakistani squad has already been touted as a major attraction on the opening day of the maiden competition organised by NDTDC, which was recently set up by the National Sports Commission (NSC).
With the NDTDC’s major mission statement being to ensure that athletes of Nigerian origin born abroad are discovered early and encounraged to reprerent their parents’ country, Adelakun believes Friday’s game will mark the beginning of brighter days for netball in Nigeria.
Adelakun disclosed at length, “We have a standby Team Nigeria Diaspora netball team. We have assembled players from across the globe who are willing to play for Nigeria and we will showcase them on Friday. We will showcase a truly Nigerian netball team that can hold its own globally.
“Training sessions for the netball team have started since May. We commend the dedication of the girls who have shown up willingly and ready to wear Nigeria’s colours. We have succeeded in building, in a very short time, a main team and a development team of younger players.
“Our first task is to see how far we can go in getting Nigeria to qualify for the 2027 Netball World Cup by participating in the Africa qualifying series in September 2026 in Kenya. This is a monumental grassroots initiative by the NSC and they deserve all the commendations.
“We are only here serving as facilitators, but the support of the Commission has been immense. It has really hurt over the years seeing athletes that should ordinarily play for Nigeria playing for other countries because we neglected them. All this will change in the current dispensation.”
Sports247 gathered further that NDTDC has contracted ex-England netball player, Alison Akinrinlola to become Nigeria’s pioneer diaspora national team coach, with her first assignment coming during a tune-up game this Tuesday in Glasgow, versus the Commonwealth Games team of Scotland.
