The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2016 Olympics

  • Nike to launch ‘Pro Hijab’ for Muslim women in sport

    Nike to launch ‘Pro Hijab’ for Muslim women in sport

     

     

    Nike is set to launch a specially-designed hijab to help Muslim women compete in sports.

    The Nike Pro Hijab will be launched in spring 2018 in response to the increasing number of women in Islamic society ‘embracing sport’.

    The sportswear giant said it was inspired by Saudi Arabian runner Sarah Attar, who competed in the 800m race at the London 2012 Olympics wearing a hijab, and Emirati weightlifter Amna Al Haddad, who competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

    A Nike statement said: ‘The Nike Pro Hijab may have been more than a year in the making, but its impetus can be traced much further back, to an ongoing cultural shift that has seen more women than ever embracing sport.

    The Nike Pro Hijab will be launched in Spring 2018 and the firm says many female Muslim athletes had asked for the garment to be made so they could ‘perform better’

    A Nike spokesperson told Al Arabiya English they came up with the concept after Al Haddad visited its research facility at their global headquarters in Oregon, US.

    The spokesperson said: ‘We worked with Amna and a variety of other athletes to see what they needed and wanted in a performance hijab.

    ‘What we heard was that women were looking for a lightweight and breathable solution that would stay in place without concern of shifting.’

    Saudi Arabian runner Sarah Attar helped inspire Nike to make the garment after running in a hijab in the 800m race at the London 2012 Olympics

    The hijabs have been tested by Egyptian running Coach Manal Rostom and Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari, as well as ‘everyday athletes’ from the Middle East.

  • Olympic tennis: Quadri to set another world record

    With his performance at the last Rio 2016 Olympic Games, African champion, Aruna Quadri will be setting another world ranking record when the September ITTF rating is released this weekend.

    The Nigerian in 2014 became the first African to make the top 30 in the world following his scintillating performance at the 2014 ITTF World Cup where he made it to the quarterfinal stage.

      And with his heroic feat in Rio, the Oyo State-born star is already the toast of fans across the world following his quarterfinal berth in Brazil where he defeated some of the top players in the world including former world number one, Germany’s Timo Boll.

    However, a partial ranking released after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by the world table tennis ruling body, the Nigerian ranked 40thprior to the Olympic Games in Brazil has moved to 25th in the world as the first African to achieve such feat.

    The partial ranking was based on the points he garnered in Rio but there are indications that he may move higher when the September rating is made public this weekend.

    Meanwhile, Aruna Quadri’s continental rival, Egypt’s Omar Assar continued his free-fall in the partial rating as the former African champion dropped to 56 from 55 following his second round exit in Rio.

  • Ukogu rows into Olympics semi final

    Ukogu rows into Olympics semi final

    The representative of Team Nigeria, Chierika Ukogu has secured a place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Single Sculls Rowing event at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics.

    The success of the 24 year old is giving the country the hope of winning her first medal at the 2016 Olympics.

    Recall that she is the first Nigerian to represent the country in Rowing and she seems determined to clinch the Olympics Gold medal.

    The athlete is rowing with Rouba Amina from Algeria, her quarter-final African colleague, in the semifinals.

    Ukogu is a graduate of Stanford University, a private research university in California, the United States.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” category=”109015″ count=”4″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Motivated by the inspiration of legend Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri yesterday defied all odds to demystify one of the tournament’s favourites, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan with a 4-0 bashing to berth in the fourth round of the men’s singles of the table tennis event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    For making it to the fourth round (last 16), Quadri has equaled the feat achieved by Toriola at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China where the former African champion made it to the same stage of the championship.

    The Nigerian who is ranked 40th in the world and 27 at the Rio Olympic Games tamed the world’s number seven and tournament’s number five seed to make a giant stride in his career.

    If what happened at the 2016 German Open is anything to go by, Quadri has no chance against the Asian star as the 2014 ITTF Star Player was bundled out in less than 15minutes.

    Fired up by the loud ovation that greeted Segun Toriola’s exit in the second round of the men’s singles, Quadri was in excellent form with an emphatic routing of his highly-rated opponent.

    The defeat suffered by the Asian star was that disgraceful that he could not win a game in the 4-0 ((11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7) bashing.

    Notably, four year ago at London 2012, Quadri’s victim – Chuang Chih-Yuan had reached the bronze medal match, where he was beaten by Germany’s Dmitrij Ovtcharov.

    Like Quadri, another star of the night was Ukraine’s Kou Lei who attracted the attention by upsetting top seed.

    Kou Lei, the no.28 seed, ended the hopes of Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the no. 13 seed (11-6, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-6).

    In the fourth round match, Quadri will be faced with another task as he is expected to battle against Germany’s Timo Boll, ranked 13 in the world and tournament’s number 10 seed.

  • Nigeria’s Schedule at the Olympics

    Nigeria’s Schedule at the Olympics

    Barely 20 Hours to the kick-off of the much expected 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, a full schedule of the sporting activities in which Team Nigeria will participate has been released.

    As the Olympics is scheduled to start on Friday, Nigeria will first feature in a Group B Men’s tournament football match against Japan after which the country’s flag bearer at the Olympics, Funke Oshonaike and her male Table Tennis counterpart Segun Toriola, will participate in the preliminaries of the table tennis singles.

    Thereafter, Nigerian football team will play the second leg of the Group B match against Sweden on Sunday at about 2:00am Nigerian time.

    On Monday, the Basket Ball team will take on their Argentine counterparts in the first leg of the Group B match of the men’s tournament.

    Team Nigeria will participate in Rowing, Football, Basket Ball, Table Tennis, Boxing, Athletics, Swimming and a few others.

    For the full schedule, kindly click here

  • Olympics: Akpeyi in Dream Team VI provisional squad

    Olympics: Akpeyi in Dream Team VI provisional squad

    South Africa-based, Daniel Akpeyi will be in the Nigeria squad to the 2016 Olympic Games soccer event  as one of the over-aged players and has been tipped to upstage Emmanuel Daniel as Dream Team VI first choice goalkeeper at the Games.

    Akpeyi, who plays for Chippa United in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League, is a late inclusion in Nigeria’s provisional squad for the Olympics, africanFootball.com reports.

    The 29-year-old was initially not in contention for a place in the squad, as Nigeria U-23 coach, Samson Siasia, had listed only outfield players as possible over-aged players for the Games, but later had a change of mind.

    “Dan (Akpeyi) was not on the list before, but coach (Siasia) realises he needs an experienced goalkeeper in the squad especially after the Korea tournament,” a source in the team told africanFootball.com.

    “He  is not new to coach and that’s why he has been selected and I can tell you that he will make the team except any last minute change of events.”

     

  • Ibrahimovic in Sweden Olympics squad

    Ibrahimovic in Sweden Olympics squad

    Sweden captain, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, has been named in the country’s 35-man provisional squad for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    The 34-year-old striker is representing his country at Euro 2016 in France and is expected to decide whether he will compete in the Olympics following his conclusion, Goal reports.

    Sweden Under-21 coach, Hakan Ericson is hopeful Ibrahimovic will participate in Rio, but acknowledged the lack of time following the European Championships could be a pitfall.

    “He has said he wants to wait to make his decision until after the European Championships,” Goal quoted Ericson, who is taking charge of the Olympics squad, as saying on Wednesday.

    “There is a little gap and I want to keep it open because it would be fantastic, although my hopes are not huge. But we have hope.”

    Ibrahimovic is one of seven over-23 players named in Sweden’s preliminary squad, which will be cut to 18 players.

    Only three over-age players will be eligible for the Games starting in August.

     

  • Refugee team to compete at Olympics

    Refugee team to compete at Olympics

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland, said a 10-strong refugee team will compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later this year.

    IOC President, Thomas Bach, said the team would compete in swimming, athletics and judo events at the August 5 to August 21 Games, tagged “a symbol of hope.”

    Bach said the participants were selected from 43 possible candidates, with five refugees from South Sudan, two from Syria, two from the Democratic Republic of Congo and one from Ethiopia.

    “The refugees are homeless, no team, no flag, and no national anthem.

    “We will offer them a home in the Olympic Village together with all the athletes of the world,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the IOC chief as saying on Friday.

    Bach said the first-ever refugee team would enter the opening ceremony in the Maracana Stadium before hosts Brazil and under the Olympic flag.

    He pledged that, throughout the Games, they would be treated as any other team, and subjected to doping control, even though their expenses would be paid by the IOC.

  • NBBF calls up 27 players for Rio Olympics training camp

    NBBF calls up 27 players for Rio Olympics training camp

    The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) on Tuesday in Abuja released its preliminary list of 27 players invited to the men’s national team training camp ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games.

    NBBF President Tijani Umar, while unveiling the list at a media briefing, said the Federation had made efforts to ensure the best available players were considered for invitation to camp.

    He listed the players to include Ike Diogu, Jamal Olasewere, Michael Umeh, Chamberlain Oguchi, Benjamin Uzoh, Michael Gbinije and Olaseni Lawal.

    “Others are Al-farouq Aminu, AbdulWahab Aminu, Obinna Ogide, Stanley Okoye, Olumide Oyedeji, Ezeli Festus, Ofoegbu Ike, Braimoh Suleiman and Ibekwe Ekene.

    “The rest are Derrick Obasohan, Stanley Gumut, Usman Abubakar, Nwaelele Daniel, Josh Akognon, Udofia Mfon, Ere Ebi, Antetokounmpo Thanasis, Mbakwe Trevor, Udoh Ekpe and Campbell Folarin.’’

    Umar said the 28th player under consideration presently for the training camp was Victor Oladipo, who was yet to give NBBF his final word on playing for Nigeria.

    “He is yet to give us his final word on playing for us. But he had been in training camp with the U.S. and we learnt he has not made their final list. But we are still awaiting him,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian team, known as the D’Tigers, have qualified for the Olympics scheduled for Aug. 5 to Aug. 21 in in Rio, Brazil.

    They qualified as African champions after winning the 2015 Afrobasket in Tunisia.

    Umar said the players, who were a mixture of home-based and overseas-based players, were being expected to report to camp in Los Angeles or Bakersfield in the U.S. on June 27.

    “Our training camp schedule, which is tentative though, begins with the team’s Head Coach and technical staff engaging on players visitation from June 4 to June 25, ahead of the camp’s opening on June 27.

    “However, the visitation can still throw up a situation where new players would be invited to the camp. We are not ruling this out as we go along.

    “However, the invited players who are in the NBA will join camp on July 1 before the team flies out on July 3 to China.

    “In China, they will play in the Stankovic Cup from July 5 to July 10, which will have China, France and Argentina taking part,’’ he said.

    The NBBF president said the team then would likely head to Melbourne in Australia for games against the hosts on July 13 and July 15 or go to Las Vegas.

    “The team is scheduled to, in Las Vegas, take on Argentina on July 18 and Brazil on July 20, before returning to Los Angeles on July 21 to face China on July 22.

    “After this, the team will head to Houston on July 23 and take on the U.S. on Aug. 1, before flying to Brazil for the Olympics on Aug. 2,’’ he said.

     

  • Boxers may begin camping for Olympics qualifiers in Cameroon

    There are indications that the camping of boxers for the 2016 Olympics Qualifying Tournament in Cameroun may open this week in Lagos.

    NationSport learned that the national coach, Tony Konyegwachie has invited 24 boxers including England and Belgium-based pugilists for the eight slots at stake.

    The camping becomes necessary as some of the boxers will be using the camping to test might against one another while the final eight-man team that will represent Nigeria at the qualifiers will be made known.

    However, Konyegwachie has said that he is sure that the camping would provide them the opportunity to assess the boxers as well as pick the best hands for the country.

    At present, some of the boxers have taken their training outside the shores of the country with most of them using United States as their training base.

    2015 African Games medalists – Edith Agu-Ogoke, Caroline Linus, Kehinde Obareh and Efetobor Apochi are honing their skills in various cities across the U.S.

    Also, most of the invited foreign-based boxers are also fine-tuning their build up to the camping exercise in Lagos.

    In the list made available to NationSport, Konyegwachie said it is made up 15 male and nine female with five making the final trip to Cameroon in the men’s division while three will represent Nigeria in the women’s event in Yaounde.

    The tactician who led the Team Nigeria to successful outing at the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville told NationSport that he is confident that with six weeks, the team would be ready for the qualifiers.

    “With the new rules of boxing at the Olympics, so many boxers now have the chance to compete at the Olympics and we have decided to include some foreign-based boxers who are born outside the country but are ready to represent their fatherland. We will be focusing on five weight categories in the men’s event while we only have three categories in the women cadre. To ensure that we have more competition in each weight, we have decided to invite three boxers in each weight,” Konyegwachie said.

    He disclosed that Nigeria will compete in 69kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg and +91kg in the men’s category while in the women’s division, Nigeria will compete in three recognized weight categories – 51kg, 60kg and 75kg.

    Meanwhile, qualification for the boxing events at the 2016 Summer Olympics is based on the APB and WSB World Rankings, APB and WSB World and Olympic Qualifier, the 2015 World Championships, and the 2016 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

    For both men and women, each boxer is selected to compete for the Games through the four Continental Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in 2016.

    Algeria’s duo of Abdelkader Chadi (64kg) and Ilya Abbadi (75kg) as well as Egypt’s Hosam Abdin (75kg) and Morocco’s Mohammed Rabii (69kg) have booked their places at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.