The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sports

  • JANUARY 2013 FRIENDLIES: Eagles, Cape Verde tangle in Faro

    JANUARY 2013 FRIENDLIES: Eagles, Cape Verde tangle in Faro

    Super Eagles would at an undisclosed date in January 2013 confront Cape Verde in an international friendly with details of the tune-up game being sorted out by the agents of the two countries, SportingLife can reveal exclusively today.

    “Another friendly match the Eagles would play is against the senior national team of Cape Verde. This match would be played before the Eagles play their first match at the 2013 Africa Nations Cup. The discussion has been in advanced stage maybe we put it at 70 percent concluded. These may be the last two matches the Eagles would play after the first one against Catalonia,” the competent source told SportingLife.

    Many prominent football administrators and soccer-loving Nigerians have expressed their preference for African opposition to be able to make the Eagles feel the gritty and hard African style of play which the football house has now concurred with.

    SportingLife has exclusively gathered from close sources to the football house that the match against Palancas Negras of Angola is already a done deal and the match would definitely come up in Faro, Portugal between January 10th and 15th.

    “The Super Eagles would lock horns with the Angola National team in Faro, Portugal between January 10th and 15th. This match has already been sealed by the NFF Match Agent and would definitely hold after the full squad of the Eagles expected in the Faro camp must have reported,” the sources said.

  • NTTF bans another player for violating festival rule

    NTTF bans another player for violating festival rule

    The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) on Wednesday banned Bisola Asaju of Team Kwara from the ongoing 18th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Lagos and subsequent Games for cheating.

    Ranti Lajide, an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) certified umpire, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that Asaju was ineligible to participate in the Games, having featured in three past editions.

    Lajide, who is officiating in the table tennis event, said the NTTF had vowed to disqualify any player found violating the rules of the NSF. “The player was trying to be faster than her shadow, but the NTTF is very particular about such persons and once we identify them, he or she is automatically disqualified,” he said.

    Lajide said that such a tough step would discourage others from getting involved in such, because the festival was designed for talent discovery. “We cannot allow athletes who have had their times at previous Games to deny upcoming talents from showing their skills, so we have to put a stop to it,” he added.

    Also speaking to NAN, ACP Anderson Bankole, expressed satisfaction with the performances of players at the festival and described them as the hope of tomorrow.

    Bankole, an NTTF board member, said: “I am highly impressed with the brilliant performances of the athletes and we are actually identifying talents as the competition progresses.”

    He said that coaches had more work to do so that the future of identified talents could be tailored in line with the techniques of the ping-pong game. The NTTF board member also said that the federation was committed to developing table tennis at the grassroots.

  • Adikwu stars in 3SC big win

    Adikwu stars in 3SC big win

    Gabriel Adikwu scored a brace as 3SC trounced Silver Sports of Osogbo 5-1 in a pre-season game in Ibadan on Tuesday.

    It was the 13th pre-season game played by Shooting Stars and Adikwu promised to score more goals when the league begins.

    “Last season, I didn’t start the season with the club but this season going to be different as I have vowed to score many goals for 3SC,” Adikwu told MTNFootball.com.

    “My best is yet to come but this season is going to be different as we are ready for the league. I can’t wait for the league to kick off.”

    Silver Sports opened the scoring in the eighth minutes, before striker Adikwu fired with a double and Chima Akas increased the tally with a long range shot to make it 3-1 in the first half.

    Gata Ismail Adesina made it 4-1 in the second half after he converted a penalty and Tony Edjomarigwe wrapped up the big win for ‘The Oluyole Warriors’.

  • Nigerian businessman to sponsor Niger AFCON campaign

    Nigerian businessman to sponsor Niger AFCON campaign

    Nigerian tycoon Dahiru Mangal will fly a 540-strong Niger contingent to next year’s African Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    MTNFootball.com reports that Mangal, a Katsina-based major air transporter and businessman agreed to make available one of his Boeing 747 planes to transport Nigerien national team and its supporters to the former apartheid enclave for the continent’s premier soccer tournament.

    “Mangal is a good friend of our President and he has graciously accepted to support Niger at the Nations Cup by providing us with a Boeing 747 plane that will take us to and from South Africa.

    “We will fuel the chartered aircraft, otherwise he would bear the other costs.

    “This is a big assistance to Niger and we really appreciate it.

    “His airline, Maxair, operates in Niger and he has several other business interests also in the country,” top Niger Football Association official, Mohammed Sani, told MTNFootball.com.

    This sponsorship is believed would save Niger at least about 50 million Naira.

    Niger will be based in Port Elizabeth for the first round of matches. The Mena will meet Ghana, Mali and DR Congo in the tournament starting in January.

    Mangal rose to national prominence during the tenure of late Nigerian president, Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

    This year, his airline ferried the bulk of Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

     

  • Why Siasia snubbed India deal

    Why Siasia snubbed India deal

    Former head coach of the Nigerian national team, Samson Siasia has moved to clear the air over the reasons his proposed move to the India Premier League fell through.

    Siasia was said to be on a list of coaches and semi-retired world stars like former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin Okocha who had been pencilled for the India Premier League.

    The former Nantes striker has now explained the reasons for the failure of the deal to go through.

    “I was supposed to go to India and something happened and the contract was cancelled. This was because the project (The India Premier League) never hit the ground running,” Siasia told supersport.com.

    The 45-year-old said he was impressed with the plans of the Indians to revitalize football in the country.

    “They had big plans and were ready to invest big money in the project. They had a proposed rule which would have seen at least five Indian players in the starting eleven of each team.

    “They wanted the home lads to learn from the experienced professionals who would come in but there was a problem and the project had to be scrapped,” he said.

    Siasia also responded to speculation that he was still out of a job as he did not possess the requisite qualifications to manage at the top level.

    “If I don’t have a license, I would never have coached the (Nigerian) national team. If you want to coach, it is all about connections.

    “If you have the right manager, you will always have a team to coach. It is the same with players as well. I have had a lot of offers from teams but I cannot just start announcing that teams are chasing me. It is not my style,” he said.

  • Victorious Golden Eaglets return

    Victorious Golden Eaglets return

    • Depart for Uyo today
    • Amuneke mourns late father-in-law

     

    The victorious Golden Eaglets breezed into the country Tuesday evening from Bamako where they secured the ticket to the 2013 African Under-17 Championship to be held in Morocco.

    The team contingent led by Muazu Suleiman, the chairman of NFF’s Referee Committee, arrived in Lagos about 4:00pm aboard ASKY Airlines and was the cynosure of all eyes at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja, where they were received by Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, the Director Technical of the NFF amongst others.

    Ikpeme said the NFF and indeed Nigerians were happy over the manner the players distinguished it throughout the qualifiers where they recorded six wins in as many games to break the country’s duck of not qualifying for the continental cadet competition, adding that the team would be exposed to solid preparation before the championship proper in Morocco.

    “Nigerians and indeed the NFF is happy with the Golden Eaglets because they are a model team that we would nurture to greater heights,” Ikpeme said.

    “We are delighted that they qualified for the Under-17 Championship in Morocco and the federation would be waiting for the reports and programmes of the coaching crew towards their preparations.”

    The Golden Eaglets would in the meantime, depart Lagos for Uyo today where they are expected to play an Akwa Ibom selected team in honour of Governor Godswill Akpabio who will be marking his 50th birthday this weekend.

    In a related development, the Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach, Emmanuel Amuneke is mourning the loss of his father-in-law, Miguel Alonso in Spain. Alonso, the father of his wife, Fatimah, who died after a brief last Wednesday, was aged 73.

    Amuneke said he had been in tumoil since he got the unfortunate news but had to keep it to himself because of the exigency of work particularly with the Golden Eaglets’ crucial game against Mali at the weekend.

    “My father-in-law was a very good man and I cannot forget all what he did for me and my wife,” a crestfallen Amunike said with misty eyes. “Of course, I would have loved to be with my wife and the rest of her family when her father was sick but for the Golden Eaglets job.”

  • Ekeji confirms receipt of NSF’s N400m

    Ekeji confirms receipt of NSF’s N400m

    • Says N399m spent on London 2012 Olympics

    National Sports Commission (NSC) Director-General, Patrick Ekeji has told the House of Representatives Committee on Sports while presenting a budget of N6.77 billion for the 2013 fiscal year to the House on Monday that N400 million was actually approved and released for the ongoing National Sports Festival but the money was used for the last London 2012 Olympics.

    The NSC top official told the House that N399 million was used in bailing out some sports to assist them in overseas camping, preparations and participation for the last Olympic Games in London.

    SportingLife had exclusively reported last Tuesday that the said amount (N400 million) was released to the National Sports Commission for the funding of the ongoing National Sports Festival which Ekeji denied vehemently while addressing the media that is covering the Festival in Lagos on last Wednesday.

    House Committee on Sports boss, Godfrey Gaiya had told SportingLife last Monday that his Committee had approved the sum of N400 million for the National Sports Festival. “The House Committee on Sports has approved the sum of N400 million to the Main Organizing Committee of the National Sports Festival, the NSC for the hosting of the competition in Lagos. So, we expect a well organised, fulfilling competition”, Gaiya disclosed then.

    But Ekeji three days later, precisely last Wednesday, blasted, “the claim by Honourable Gaiya that we had collected N400 million for the festival (NSF) is not only fictitious, but mischievous and misleading. I don’t know where he got this wrong information from. But to the best of my knowledge, the NSC has not gotten any money for the Festival. I challenge Gaiya to come forward with evidence where any money was released for the NSC for the sports festival”, Ekeji had queried then.

    But when he was challenged by some of the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports on Monday over the issue, Ekeji concurred.

    “We allocated funds initially to these activities. For instance for the National Sports Festival, I think about N400 million was foreseen from the total package. But in the cause of our implementing the Olympics and Paralympics Games, we overspent. There was nothing we could do, we had to overspend.

    “What we wanted for the (2012) Olympics for instance was not N2.2 billion, but (we wanted) a sum in the region of over N3 billion naira. But the provision of the envelope made it impossible for us to get up to that amount. We overspent the N2.2 billion we proposed for the (2012) Olympics. We overspent N399 million”, Ekeji defended.

  • KESHI CONFIRMS I’ll invite Osaze

    KESHI CONFIRMS I’ll invite Osaze

    • Says Eagles star plays well for Baggies

    Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has confirmed that Osaze Odewingie would be invited for the build up to the 2013 Africa Nations Cup holding in South Africa.

    The Big Boss, who spoke from the United States of America where he is holidaying with his family, said that time for experimentation had gone, and his emphasis is now on how to build the team to excel in South Africa. “I have seen enough players for now, I think my major concern now is to start working on the players that I have now, to ensure that they jell very well before the Nations Cup. I will invite Osaze, he has been part of the familly and he is doing well in his club, so we would invite him to be part of it. But, remember, we have said it times without number, that every player would have to justify his inclusion in the team”.

    He further confirmed that he would arrive in the country on Saturday 8th December.

  • CATALONIA FRIENDLY Eagles hit Faro Dec. 27

    CATALONIA FRIENDLY Eagles hit Faro Dec. 27

    Nigeria will depart for an AFCON training camp in Faro, Portugal, on December 27, officials have announced.

    The Eagles are expected to resume camp in Abuja on December 17 with players from the home league.

    “The home boys would be in camp from December 17 with the successful players heading to Faro, Portugal on December 27 in preparation for the Catalonia friendly on January 2,” disclosed spokesman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ademola Olajire.

    “The foreign-based stars are to begin arriving on January 4 to allow the coach beat the January 9 deadline of submission of squads for the tournament.”

    Olajire told MTNFootball.com that coach Stephen Keshi is expected to return to the country this weekend.

    “Coach Stephen Keshi is expected to return to the country this weekend and back to Abuja on Monday after which he should make his home-based list public,” he said.

     

  • Igali: Bayelsa set to host 2016 festival

    Igali: Bayelsa set to host 2016 festival

    The Technical Adviser, Wrestling Federation of Nigeria, Daniel Igali yesterday said that Bayelsa State is currently putting in place sporting infrastructure that will enable the state host the National Sports Festival as from 2016.

    Igali, who is the committee chairman on sports, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, while speaking to journalists inside the multi-purpose hall, University of Lagos, venue of the wrestling event, said that in the 2013 budget of the state, sports is fourth after roads, health and education.

    “In Bayelsa, the sports budget is the fourth largest in the state budget. We are now working on the upgrading of pitches, wrestling gym that will be of international standard; the construction has been awarded and it will be ready in May, 2013.

    “We have equally built a weightlifting gym. We are also looking at building a modern multi-purpose gymnasium, tartan tracks and building sporting facilities in the three senatorial zones of the state.

    For the wrestling events, Igali said: ”It has been fantastic, we have so far had a good competition. The first day, a great number competed; Delta State won a large number of gold medals, four gold medals out of seven, Bayelsa and Rivers States two and one gold each, it was a Niger/Delta affair.

    “The female wrestling was spread out; Lagos had gold, Imo and three gold for Bayelsa. Now freestyle is going on, and it looks like a south-south affair. I’m happy because there are a few athletes I have seen here that can make us proud in the next four to eight years.

    The former Olympic gold medalist in Sydney, Australia, 2000 said he was surprised that his state had made a lot of progress in the ongoing National Sports Festival despite the flood that affected their preparation towards the festival.

    “Bayelsa is looking ahead to hosting NSF in 2016. I also encourage states to improve on the standard of their equipment. We don’t know the importance of sports here, that is why we are trying to downplay the importance of equipment.”

    On the no-entry-fee-policy of this year’s festival, Igali said he had been on the campaign for an open festival for the past ten years, he however give thanks to God that the people that matters in sports had finally listened to their voices.

    “It’s something I have been clamouring for in the past ten years. Thank God we are there now,” he said.

    Igali, captained the Nigerian wrestling team to Canada to compete in the 1994 Commonwealth Games. He remained in the country while seeking refugee status due to political unrest in the Niger/Delta then. He acquired citizenship in 1998.

    In Canada, Igali won 116 consecutive matches wrestling at Simon Fraser University from 1997 to 1999. He placed fourth at the 1998 world championships.

    At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Igali won a gold medal in the Men’s 69kg freestyle wrestling. He represented Canada on the world stage. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Igali won a gold medal in the Men’s 74 kg freestyle wrestling.