The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Slovakia

  • Cyprus Cup: Super Falcons bounce back beat Slovakia 4-3

     

    Super Falcons grabbed their first victory at the ongoing Cyprus cup with a 4-3 defeat of Slovakia at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium Friday.

    The Thomas Dernneby tutored side approached the game with all the seriousness it deserved from the first blast of the whistle and their efforts yielded fruits as the scored three quick goals in the first half.

    Rita Chikwelu opened the floodgate of goals for the Falcons in the 7th minute. Osinachi Ohale increased the tally in the 28th minute before Chikwelu who from all indications was not satisfied with having only one goal in her name grabbed a second in the 38th minute even as the Falcons held to their 3-0 lead till the end of first 45 minutes.

    The sound of the music however changed in the second half when Slovakia’s Jana Vojtekova got a goal for her side in the 67th minutes of the game just 22 minutes into the second half.

    The goal did not only come as a ginger for the Slovakian babes but appeared to have told them in clear terms that they can indeed turn the table if the dared.

    The increased pressure on the Falcons saw the team give away two penalties in quick secession in the 72nd and 76th minutes respectively which Lucia Harsanyova did not fail to convert thus putting both teams at par at 3-3.

    The game appeared to be heading for a draw before Anam Imo found the net in the 82nd minute to again put Falcons ahead with victory looking assured at 4-3.  Both teams afterwards went into a ding-dong affair firing from all angles; Falcons with intent to further consolidate and the Slovakians with intent to restore parity to no avails.

    Friday’s match marks the second defeat for the Slovakians after losing their opening match 3-0 to Belgium, Falcons on their part lost the first match 4-1 to Austria with the consolation goal coming from Assisat Oshoala. The final group match will  be against Belgium on Monday.

  • Slovakia dashes Nigeria’s promotion ambition

    For the second time at the 2018 ITTF World Team Championships, Slovakia became Nigeria’s Achilles’ heels in the quarter-final match of the men’s second division.

    Having beaten Nigeria 1-3 in the group stage, the Slovakians led by Lubomir Pistej again humbled Nigeria 3-0 in the quarter-final encounter.

    Apart from the defeat, the unbeaten run of Aruna Quadri was rudely halted by Pistej, who defeated the Nigerian 3-1 to give the Slovakian team an advantage going into the second game between Bode Abiodun and Samuel Novota.

    In the encounter against Quadri, Pistej copped a knee injury, but the treatment from the medical team put the star back into the game.

    Having studied Quadri very well, Pistej ensured Quadri did not play much of his forehand. To give the European team the needed win, Pistej beat Quadri 11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4.

    Abiodun would have restored parity for Nigeria, but the bespectacled Novota pulled some tricks to beat the Nigerian 5-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 to lead 2-0.

    It was the turn of Olajide Omotayo to put Nigeria back into the game, but the defensive style of Wang Yang was too much for the youngest member of the Nigerian side.

    A disappointed Segun Toriola told NationSport that the defeat to Quadri gave the Slovakian team the needed motivation to go all out. “It was painful that we had to lose to the same team in this crucial stage of the competition. We were also surprised with their set-up because they decided to use their second best player as the third player. Generally, I think we did well winning five matches and losing two to the same team,” Toriola said.

  • Miroslav Lajcak elected UN General Assembly president

    Miroslav Lajcak elected UN General Assembly president

    Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak was elected as president of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

    As the only candidate nominated for the position, Lajcak was elected by acclamation by the 193-member Assembly.

    Lajcak is currently the minister of foreign and European affairs of Slovakia.

    He was Slovak ambassador to Japan from 1994 to 1998.

    He also ran for the position of UN Secretary-General in 2016.

    Lajcak will replace Peter Thomson of Fiji as president of the General Assembly in September.

    NAN reports Lajcak would convene the 72nd Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 72) at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

    The General Debate of the UNGA will open on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

  • FIFA World Rankings: Nigeria remains 40th

    FIFA World Rankings: Nigeria remains 40th

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles have remained on the 40th spot with 726 points in the May FIFA World Rankings released on Thursday.

    According to the rankings table on the website of the world football governing body, Nigeria remained unmoved from the spot it occupied in the April rankings.

    The position has also left Nigeria on the 5th spot in the continent behind Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso respectively.

    The Super Eagles Media officer, Toyin Ibitoye, reacting to the rankings said it was a reflection of what happened in the month under review.

    “The ranking have come again and the Super Eagles were ranked 40th in the World and 5th in Africa, the same position we were as at the last ranking.

    “I think it is nothing to worry about. In the month reviewed, nothing happened and there were no friendly games and no official games.

    “The new FIFA ranking is a reflection of what happened during the month, but we will continue to do what we are doing to work and prepare the team.

    “We are ready for the challenges coming up. Next month will be very busy for us; we will be going to camp for training.

    Ibitoye said that the Eagles would concentrate more on the task ahead which were qualifiers for the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    “We will concentrate on preparing for the crucial game against Bafana Bafana of South Africa. This will be the qualifiers towards the 2018 Nations Cup.

    “But last month’s assessment by FIFA is justifiable because it has been a quiet month for the teams in international front,’’ he said.

    On the global scene, it was a quiet month on the international front with only seven games played.

    The top 20 places remained static following April, with a one-place drop for Slovakia (24) into accounting for the only movement inside the leading 73 nations.

    Bolivia (73, plus 1) brought about that small ripple of motion, but outside the top 100 there were some notable changes.

    A pair of wins for Madagascar (111, plus 9) over Malawi (114, minus 14) saw them claim the titles of the month’s biggest movers up and down the table respectively.

    Also, South Sudan (146, plus 8) is not far behind after similarly twice seeing off Somalia (206, unchanged).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on June 1, 2017. (

     

  • Tata Motors-owned JLR to invest $2b in Slovakia

    Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover will invest $2 billion to build a plant in Slovak Republic which will help create over 50,000 jobs, European nation’s economy minister Vazil Hudak said.

    “We are happy to inform you all that the first Indian company to invest in Slovak Republic is Tata’s JLR. They will invest $2 billion in the first phase,” Hudak was quoted as telling a industry meet at the weekend.

    He was speaking at an interactive meet organised at the World Trade Centre by the All India Association of Industries (AIAI), which issued a statement.

    Hudak said this will generate 400 direct jobs at the plant and another 50,000 supplementary jobs in allied sectors.

    The minister, who met Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry after the meeting, said this is the best time to invest in the country, and mentioned political safety and a robust economy as its strengths.

    In August, JLR signed a letter of intent for the potential new plant in the city of Nitra in western Slovakia, according to the company website.

    Speculation is rife on the quantum of investments in the plant, with some media reports pegging it at GBP 1 billion.

    The company is doing a “feasibility study” with the Slovakian government to explore plans for a factory with an installed capacity of up to 3,00,000 vehicles over the next decade, it said, adding, the plant will manufacture aluminium Jaguar Land Rover vehicles and start production in 2018.

    “The move marks the next step in the company’s strategy to become a more competitive global business by expanding its manufacturing operations into new international locations in the future,” it said.

    Hudak is leading a delegation seeking Indian investments from the engineering, information technology and automobile components, and also looking for partners to start ventures in automobile, defence, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and renewable energy space, the AIAI statement said

  • Rabiu Ibrahim nets Rabiu Ibrahim in Slovakia

    Rabiu Ibrahim nets Rabiu Ibrahim in Slovakia

    Nigeria midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim scored his first goal for Slovak club AS Trencin on Saturday as they beat FK Dukla Banska Bystrica 2-0.

    AS Trencin are second on the league table with 43 points from 21 games, same points as leaders Zillina, who have a game at hand.

    The former PSV Eindhoven midfielder sealed the victory for his side in the 24th minute.

    The 23-year-old player has played for Gateway, Sporting Lisbon, Real Massamma, PSV, Celtic and Kilmarnock.

    He has played for Nigeria U-17, U-20 and U-23 teams.