History has
been made as the king of games; polo makes its much awaited debut as a non
scoring event at the 2013 Police Biennial Games that opens with fanfare in Port
Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Tagged
Rivers’2013, the Police Games which was last staged in Lagos in 2008, was a
huge success as the noble games joins other sporting events to light up the
prestigious festival which is revered for its robust competitions and
sportsmanship.
Thanks
to personal commitment of the Inspector General of Police, M.D Abubakar, the
aristocratic game that celebrated its centenary in the country some years back,
was the biggest attraction of the weeklong Police sporting fiesta.
Encouraged
by the success story of the IGP Strikers Polo team at the national level IGP
Abubakar, who is one of the biggest benefactors of the ancient game in the country,
is committed to making polo one of the scoring events at subsequence editions
of the Police Biennial Games.
The
decision to admit polo into the mainstream of the Police Games, is in keeping
with the much cherish tradition of the Nigerian Police Force which has remain
in the forefront of sports promotion both locally and internationally.
To
celebrate the long awaited arrival of the king of games into the Police Games’
sporting mainstream, a special tournament was hosted by the Port Harcourt Polo
Club under the auspices of the Police Games Committee, with the support of the
Rivers State Governor and Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF).
The
inaugural event which was also supported by, corporate firms, individuals and other
states in the Niger Delta region, attracted over seven teams from major polo
centres across the country, which vied for three major trophies at stake during
the weeklong event.
That
groundbreaking debut in the Garden City with all the big polo patrons participating
was a confirmed demonstration of what to expect in the next Police Games, when
polo joins other events to light up the festival as a scoring event.
President
of Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF) Francis Ogboro who hailed the inclusion of
polo in the Biennial Police Games, said the vision of IGP Abubakar who has been
engaged on several occasions about taking polo to the next level, was in line
with what national polo authority
is aspiring to achieve.
“This is
in furtherance to our resolves to identify with the efforts of the Police Force
and in solidarity with our amicable IGP, MD Abubakar, a complete gentleman, an
exemplary leader and a great polo supporter and promoter,” Ogboro added.
Chief
Superintendent of Police, Aliyu Abubakar, who re-launched the Police team to national
limelight four years ago, led the IGP Strikers to the Port Harcourt battle,
while other teams featuring big names came from Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and Port
Harcourt, for the Police Games debut.
“Thanks
to the keen interest of our Patron (The IGP), today we are all happy that polo
is in the main stream of Nigerian Police Biennial Games like it did some years
back at the National Sports festival. This is one of the greatest moments in my
life and the biggest honour to the Nigerian Police Force and the country at
large,” the elated CSP added.
CSP
Abubakar who is the chairman and Captain of the Police polo team said with the
debut of polo efforts are on to establish polo teams in all the twelve Police
Zones across the country, with the aim of ensuring that polo would be the
biggest attraction at the next edition of the Games.
