‘Gender & grassroot are our priorities with Betsy Obaseki Women’s Cup’ – Sabina Chikere

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The Permanent Secretary of the Edo State Sports Commission, Sabina Chikere has voiced the main ambitions of the Edo State First Lady behind the sustained organization of the Betsy Obaseki Women’s Football Tournament (BOWFT) ahead of its third edition in August, this year in Benin City, Edo State.

Since launched in 2021, the women’s tournament had featured high-profile clubs and women’s football academies in the country, with Bayelsa Queens winning maiden edition and Robo Queens as the defending champions.

Edo State First Lady, Mrs Betsy Obaseki had recently inaugurated a nine-man board to oversee the tournament and the former Edo Queens general manager spoke on the peculiarity of this year’s edition.

“Edo is known for doing things right and being the best in whatever they do, I am happy that Betsy Obaseki pre-season tournament is gaining ground and getting the result we intend,” Chikere told NigeriaFootball.ng.

“Her Excellency (Betsy Obaseki) put up this because of her love for women, promoting gender and grassroots development. We are going to have it against this year and the organization committee has been inaugurated few weeks ago.

“Betsy Obaseki Pre-season tournament gets better by the year. This year will be the best of the previous two editions as this is the third, and it is going to better. It serves as a playing ground for players to watch out for themselves.

“Like we usually do, we have the premiership team participating. Equally promoting the grassroots teams, we are going to have the same number of grassroots teams we had. We use this tournament to promote the grassroots, catching them young.

“It is going to be like that, the same number of teams, NPFL, NWFL teams, and equally the local teams we try to encourage to have a career in football.

“For this year, we didn’t think about the outside   team. Because what we want to achieve with the Betsy Obaseki pre-season tournament is to incorporate the Nigeria factor. It is a good idea we might think about it next year, Her excellency might think that in, but not for this year.”

In previous editions, the organizers had put up various awareness campaign seminars during the tournament and the Edo State Sports ministry official assures they will sustain the promotion of gender based programmes.

“In addition to the competitive aspect, the tournament will also focus on promoting social inclusion, gender equality, and community engagement,” she continued.

“Various initiatives and workshops will be organized throughout the tournament to raise awareness about the importance of women’s participation in sports and address relevant social issues.”