Author: The Nation

By Olalekan Okusan

The certainty of Quadri Aruna’s chances  competing in his third Olympic Games will be known next week when the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) released the final list of players expected to compete at Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan.

Also, the world table tennis ruling body has confirmed the men’s and women’s teams for Tokyo Olympic Games after 16 National Olympic Committees (NOC) released their teams’ list for the multi-sports fiesta in Japan.

According to ITTF, 93 players are set to contest in both the men’s and women’s team event in the rescheduled summer games.

Aruna who copped an injury during the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tunisia last year is expected to pick his ticket to Tokyo through world rankings since he is rated second behind England’s Liam Pitchford among the top-ranked players yet to qualify for the games.

The Rio 2016 quarterfinalist is expected to join compatriots – Olajide Omotayo, Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong to compete in the singles event of the Olympic Games in Japan.

Meanwhile, Egypt has named Omar Assar, Ahmed Saleh and Khaled Assar for their men’s team while six-time African champion Dina Meshref will lead the duo of Yousra Helmy and Farah Abdel-Aziz made up the women’s team of Egypt.

For the men’s team event, Europe has the largest representation featuring Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, France, Portugal and Serbia, all set to battle for Olympic glory. Asia is a close second featuring China, Japan, Korea Republic, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, China whilst Egypt, Brazil, USA and Australia will represent Africa, Latin America, North America and Oceania respectively.

In the Women’s team event, the NOCs in Asia will be represented by China, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Korea Republic. The NOCs’ hopes in Europe for a medal in the women’s team event rest with Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Romania whilst Egypt, USA, Brazil and Australia will be the flagbearers for Africa, North America, Latin America and Oceania respectively.

The rescheduled Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will be held from July 23 to August 8 with the Table Tennis competitions set to take place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from 24 July to 6 August 2021.

The chairman of the Lagos State Sports Trust Fund (LSSTF), Otunba Femi Pedro has promised that the famous Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Rowe Park would soon wear a new look as rehabilitation work is ongoing to rejuvenate the edifice to international standard.

Pedro who was the special guest at the 2021 NTTF National Championships held in Lagos at the weekend said efforts are ongoing to give the sports complex located in Yaba, a new look while calling on the private sector to partner Lagos State in empowering the youth through sport. “I want to assure you that you will soon see a brand new Rowe Park that will even look better than Omolade Okoya-Thomas Hall because work has started in rejuvenating the edifice to international standard. Through huge support from the private sector, we have been able to raise some funds to execute work on the edifice and we hope more private sector can come on board to be part of the efforts to revive sports facilities in Lagos. We hope with this edifice in good shape, our youths can have the opportunity to showcase their talents so that we can have more world champions emerging from Lagos to the world,” the former Lagos State Deputy Governor said.

In his remarks, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare commended the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for their efforts to put the country on the world map with the performance of its athletes at major international competitions.

The minister who was represented by a director in the ministry Simeon Ebhojiaye expressed satisfaction with the quality of organization of the National Championships while urging other federations to take a cue from NTTF in staging tournaments that would help to unearth talents for the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of Monimichelle Group, Ebi Egbe has called on the federal government to do something on the state of the roads in the country, declaring that the state of the Port Harcourt-Aba road is a bad advertisement for the country.

Pyramids FC of Egypt, during their recent trip to Nigeria for the CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals clash with Enyimba of Aba, posted a video of their road trip from Port Harcourt to Aba calling it a shame.

Egbe whose outfit constructed the Enyimba stadium turf noted that the Egyptians deliberately wanted to paint the country in bad light by showing the video to the world.

Egbe was however quick to add that the government on its part also needs to avoid the country being embarrassed by her international visitors by fixing our roads.

“That video by Pyramids is to me, a wakeup call for us to not only fix our stadiums but also fix our roads. Teams that come to Aba to play have always commended the playing pitch. We need to get it right on all fronts. This is why I am appealing to the federal government to get our roads fixed. Our teams would return to the continent next term and it would be a shame if teams from other countries that are far less endowed come in and mock us that we’ve got no roads in the country,” Egbe said.

He further charged the various state governments to also upgrade their stadium facilities just like other countries are doing.

Manchester United’s hope for glory in 2020/21 will be decided tomorrow when they face Samuel Chukwueze’s Villarreal in the Europa league Final.

The match will air exclusively, live and in HD on StarTimes World Football channel at 8pm.

The match is one of the peak in European football until UEFA Euro 2020 begins in June live on StarTimes. All matches will air on StarTimes basic bouquet at N1700 monthly (antenna users) or smart bouquet at N2200 (dish users).

Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze has handed Villarreal a massive boost ahead of their Europa League final clash as he returns to training. Chukwueze was stretchered off in Villarreal’s semi-final clash against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium early this month.

The match could very well be the Red Devils biggest game since Solskjaer became the manager in late 2018 and one that they would want to win. Of course, the Norwegian will have some tough decisions on his hands going into the game.

StarTimes Nigeria PR Manager, Lazarus Ibeabuchi, said: “Football lovers in Nigeria can look forward to this exciting showpiece on StarTimes. Active subscribers can watch on the go by downloading StarTimes ON mobile app and linking it to their decoders, at no extra cost, to access the same content on up to three mobile devices.

“Also, non-subscribers can also watch live sports, sought-after TV channels and over 2000 video-on-demand content for as low as N400 weekly, with an option to subscribe with their MTN airtime, via our StarTimes ON mobile app,” Lazarus added.

The President-General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, has yet again praised the late wife of Nigeria’s soccer legend Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun, Alhaja Mulikat Balogun, as the family marks her 23rd year anniversary today.

Ladipo, said in Lagos that, it was the late Alhaja Mulikat that gave her husband all the encouragements that turned him to Nigeria’s greatest soccer player and indeed a hero of country’s football.

He noted that, in some of the matches he watched ‘Thunder’ Balogun played in his active career, his wife Mulikat, took it as some kind of ritual to encourage her husband to score goals.

Ladipo added, it is on record that, when ‘Thunder’ Balogun was adamant in returning to Nigeria midway into his career in the then English Soccer League, it was Alhaja Mulikat that persuaded him to return to Nigeria to continue his soccer career.

Thunder had to dump his progressive career in England with Queens Park Rangers in 1958.

With his return, ‘Thunder’ granted the request of the Premier of Western Nigeria, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who wanted the legendary player feature for West Rovers Football club in that year’s Nigeria Challenge Cup competition, the country’s biggest soccer event at the time.

West Rovers won the title in 1958 for the first time in history because of the excellent contributions of Teslim “Thunder” Balogun.

Ladipo also noted that, Alhaja Mulikat encouraged her husband on to form a number of youth clubs in Lagos for the development of the game of football in Nigeria.

With the qualifying rounds ended on Sunday, the main draw of the 43rd Central Bank Of Nigeria Senior Tennis Open Championship served-off yesterday at the Package B of the Moshood Abiola stadium ,Abuja.

The men’s singles will be played in the round of 64 with Joseph Imeh as top seed while the women’s singles category will be observed in the round of 32 where Oyinlomo Quadre who is the back-to-back champion, the player to beat.

Quadre won the title in 2019 and 2020 and is going for the third straight win of the event. Other top players listed for action include Christian Paul, Clifford Enosoregbe, Abdulmumuni Babalola , Shehu Lawal And Iloputa among others.

While the women’s category boasts of the likes of former champions, Serah Adegoke and Christy Agugbom, Blessing Samuel, Aanu Aiyebusi,Ronke Akingbade, Blessing Anuna and US-based Marylove Edward.

Adegoke who blamed injury worries for her inability to claim the title last year vowed to stop the defending champion Oyinlomo this year to reclaim her lost glory, while men’s top seed Imeh is optimistic of winning the men’s singles title in other to claim the One million Naira (N1,000,000) prize money at stake plus a giant trophy.

Former Nigerian footballer Ibezito Ogbonna has thanked fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv for their support after narrowly escaping death in Israel last week.

The fans have launched a fund-raising campaign to help Ogbonna, who scored 40 goals in 132 appearances for Israel’s second most successful side, and his family after their apartment in the Israeli city of Ashdod was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza last week.

Ogbonna, his wife and two young daughters were at home during the attack and although his family were unhurt, the former Kaizer Chiefs man was injured and taken to hospital following injuries sustained during the explosion that was part of a recent 15-day escalation in violence between Israel and Gaza.

The 38-year-old, who won the Israeli Cup with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2006 and 2007, is still still remembered fondly by fans of The Red Demons, despite leaving the club 14 years ago.

“Hapoel Tel Aviv fans have been incredibly amazing, without my knowledge they had started a fundraising to help support me,” Ogbonna told BBC Sport Africa. “As soon as the news broke that my apartment was hit, they started reaching out and calling my phone. I didn’t ask them for anything yet they were offering to help.”

He continued: “I remember one of them got my contact and I think he put it out on the fan page for other supporters to reach out. Messages of love, prayers and unbelievable support from a club I left over a decade ago.

“Some were telling me to come over to theirs if I had no place to stay,” the former Enugu Rangers and Sharks of Port Harcourt striker added. “They’ve gone out to buy stuff and clothes for me and my family.

“I was getting deliveries of different things at the hotel without even knowing about it. I don’t even know these guys. It’s a massive love and I can’t thank them enough.

“It’s another proof that wherever you find yourself as a footballer or whatever you do. Be a good person and respect everyone because you never know when life will bring you back again.