The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), on Saturday ascribed its 5-1 victory over the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in a novelty football match in Abuja, to fitness of its players.

The Secretary, NMA FCT Chapter, Dr Michael Olarewaju, a Gynaecologists, said members had always involved themselves in various sports, ranging from football, volleyball, lawn tennis to basketball.

Olarewaju said this had made its members to keep fit all the time.

He said that the players usually trained every weekend on the pitch used for the match which made them to master the pitch.

Olarewaju said that the victory also came due to cheering of the players by ladies who were members of the healthy living committee of the association.

According to him, the ladies teach the doctors  how to live very healthy and  carry out sporting activities.

He said that the captain of its team was also a member of the healthy living committee.

On the allegation by the NUJ that NMA played the game with mercenaries, Olarewaju denied it, saying that its players were all doctors.

“I had earlier spoken with the representative of the NUJ Chairman, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbeche, and I told him that we have different categories of doctors.

“We only brought some young doctors to play the game, everyone that played on this field today is a doctor, there are some of them I know personally, some of them are quite young interns.

“Others are not quite young, but let me tell you, we train on this field virtually every weekend and that is number one, number two, our doctors keep fit.

“I personally jog on this axis every day and on Saturdays. I do it for two hours when I’m into it, playing with NUJ is a bragging right for us because we are used to sport.

“At the NMA National game, our team here came second simply because we had a fatigue before the end of that game,” he said.

Olarewaju said that not too long ago, its team  thrashed the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), adding that sports was a  regular thing for the association.

Also, Dr Aliyu-Abubakar Sadiq, Registrar, Department of Radiologist, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), who was star man of the match, said that football was a passion for him.

He said that football had been in his vein right from his childhood, Primary, Secondary and up to the University level, adding that he played for the school team at every level.

Sadiq told newsmen that he tried to keep fit any moment he had the opportunity, saying that he usually played for the local team in Gwagwalada area where he lived.

“I like to enjoy myself on the field of play, that is the spirit behind my performance.

” I put my strength into playing against the NUJ, I play for the striker team of NMA Gwagwalada,” he said.

Mr Simeon Agada, a player from the NUJ Correspondent Chapel, appreciated  NMA for organising the game, saying it had added more strength to him.

He said that it had been long he played football.

Agada said that he played football very well before, but had to stop due to age.

He thanked NMA for inviting NUJ to play with it, adding that NUJ team was able to discover its lapses in the game.

Agada attributed the huge goals from NMA to lapses on the defensive line of NUJ, adding that the defenders could not organise themselves very well.

Agada also blamed the mid fielders for the goals, noting that they didn’t coordinate themselves very well.

“We lost a lot of chances, I will want to advise our players to make use of these chances next time we play, those chances could have been converted to goals if we made use of them.

“Football is a game of chance and once you lose it, your opponent takes advantage of that,” he said.

The football game brings to an end the 2022 NMA-FCT celebration of Physicians’ Week (NAN)