Sports
EPL: Chelsea Subdues Man Utd, Leads Race For Title
Joe Cole and Didier Drogba were on target as Chelsea took the lead in the race for the Premier League title after a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Cole gave the visitors the lead with a sensational 20th minute flick from close range during a first half entirely dominated by Chelsea before Drogba, who started the match on the bench, swooped to net a contentious second with 11 minutes remaining.
A scrambled Federico Macheda goal two minutes later gave United hope of nicking a point after a much improved second half performance, but it proved too little too late as Chelsea completed the league double over the champions – and went top of the table.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side now hold a two-point advantage over second-placed United with five games remaining this season. Third-placed Arsenal closed the gap on United to a single point with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Wolves.
Chelsea’s last outing came seven days ago in their 7-1 drubbing of Aston Villa, while United were in Champions League action in Germany on Tuesday – and those extra three days of rest were initially evident as Chelsea, by far the fresher side, dominated proceedings while United chased their tails for much of the first half.
The Blues, without Drogba who was not risked from the start, deservedly took the lead on 20 minutes through Cole’s wonderful flick after Florent Malouda had outmuscled Darren Fletcher to get to the by-line and deliver a cross to the near post.
The goal rocked United, whose passing was uncharacteristically wayward and who, without the injured Wayne Rooney, lacked the energy to unsettle their opponents. Chelsea meanwhile were comfortable in possession, enjoying plenty of it as the sting was taken out of the Old Trafford crowd.
But United could, possibly should, have been given a lifeline back into the game on 26 minutes when Park Ji-sung was tripped in the box by Yuri Zhirkov’s outstretched leg. Even though there was contact, the Korean’s tumble to the floor was inelegant and failed to convince referee Mike Dean who waved play on.
The official from the Wirral, who had previously given 16 spot kicks in 24 Premier League matches this season, was again at the centre of attention four minutes later when he turned away more appeals for a penalty, this time from Chelsea. Gary Neville’s barge into Nicolas Anelka at the other end was clumsy at best but Dean’s refusal to award a foul was at least consistent with his earlier decision.
United slowly came back into the game as the first half wore on, culminating with a decent chance for Dimitar Berbatov to level the scores on 44 minutes, but the Bulgarian striker checked back inside as the ball fell kindly for him in the Chelsea box, allowing Frank Lampard to make a crucial challenge.
United built on that slight encouragement after the break, no doubt further inspired by an Alex Ferguson rollicking in the dressing room, giving Chelsea far less time on the ball and finally indicating that they were up for the fight.
That said, it was Chelsea who spurned a glorious opportunity to double their advantage soon after the restart, Paulo Ferreira finding himself in unfamiliar territory and one-on-one with Edwin van der Sar after a neat through pass by Cole. But the Portuguese full-back’s stabbed effort rolled agonisingly wide of the post and inches beyond the outstretched boot of the late-arriving Anelka.
Sports
African Games: Nigerian Women Athletes Make Country Proud Again
Before, the saying that ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better’ is usually met with resistance.
In sports, that saying has been validated over and over again with the performances of female athletes in comparison to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to quantifying their contributions to their country’s success at multi-sports events like the Olympic, Commonwealth and African Games.
For Nigeria, the women have once again proven to be the most consistent and reliable by winning the most medals for the country at the just-concluded 13th African Games in Ghana. Nigeria finished second behind Egypt in the overall medals table with a total of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze.
The women’s contribution to Team Nigeria’s haul is 71 compared to the male athletes’ 47, while three were won in mixed events. That number makes up 58.67 per cent of Nigeria’s total medals.
Significantly, the women also won 35 out of Team Nigeria’s 47 gold, leaving 11 to the male, while the other one was won in the mixed 4x400m relay, which was inspired by one of the two women in the quartet, Omolara Ogunmakinju.
The women’s gold medal haul is a whopping 74 per cent of Nigeria’s total gold.
Interestingly, the women’s 35 gold would have been enough to see Nigeria top the overall medals table, if it was an all-female affair as Egypt, who won the Games recorded 33 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze medals from their female athletes.
On the other hand, the men’s 11 gold would mean Nigeria would finish joint third with Tunisia, who’s men also won 11 gold medals while Egypt will retain their number one spot with 66 gold from their men and Algeria second with 19.
There were also 18 silver medals from the women, two more than the 16 won by the men. In terms of bronze medals, the men had the upper hand with 20 medals, two more than the women’s 18 while two medals were won in mixed games for a total of 40.
Notably, there were stellar performances from Nigeria’s female wrestlers at the Games as the six of them (Blessing Oborududu, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Hannah Reuben, Christiana Ogunsanya, Mercy Genesis and Esther Kolawole) had a clean sweep of the wrestling event.
Also, four among the five weightlifters who won three gold medals each are women (Eze Joy, Ayodele Ruth, Lawal Rafiatu, and Olarinoye Adijat).
All the seven female boxers for Nigeria also won medals – five gold (Joy Ojo, Patricia Mbata, Cynthia Ogunsemilore, Blessing Oraekwe, Jacinta Umunnakwe) and two silver (Zainab Adeshina, Kareem Shukura).
In athletics, world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, retained her African Games title by winning a third consecutive crown while long jumper Ese Brume also successfully defended her title by winning a second African Games gold in the event.
According to the 2023 African Games website, in terms of representation, Nigeria’s 437 contingent also had more women (221) than the men (216).
Beyond the 2023 African Games, female Nigeria athletes have shown greater prospects than their male counterparts.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the women won all the gold for Team Nigeria as the country put up their best outing ever, snatching a record 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals to erase their previous best performance at the Games, 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals in 1994 in Victoria, Canada.
The men took the back seat, managing just three silver and six bronze medals out of a total haul of 35 medals.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Nigeria’s only two medals were won by two female athletes, Blessing Oborududu (silver in wrestling) while Brume won bronze in long jump.
Amusan (gold) and Brume (silver) were also the only two medallists for Nigeria at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, USA, where the former stormed to the current women’s 100m hurdles record (12.12s) and also became the first ever world champion from Nigeria.
Sports
African Games: Minister Promises Swift Preparation For Egypt 2027
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has declared that the preparations for the 2027 African Games which will be held in Egypt will begin immediately, as the contingent to the just concluded 13th edition of the Games in Ghana arrived on Sunday.
Team Nigeria arrived in the country’s capital Abuja and Lagos in batches on Sunday via chartered flights provided by the Ministry of Sports Development.
In Ghana, Team Nigeria had an impressive outing and finished second in the overall medals table with a total number of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze medals.
Although the foreign-based athletes who were part of Nigeria’s success at the Games have also returned directly to their bases, Enoh believes a head start ahead of the 2027 Games will give the country an edge in their quest to claim top spot for the first time since hosting the Games in 2003.
“On behalf of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, I welcome you back to our dear country. I congratulate you for your outstanding performance in the just concluded 13th African Games that held in the Ghana,” the minister said in a statement obtained by our correspondent last Sunday.
“While you bask in the euphoria of your exploits and worthy sense of achievement, let me quickly remind you that preparations for the 14th African Games built to hold in Egypt starts now. As your Sports development minister, dubbed Nigeria’s Games Master General, I sure will be with you all the way.
“Without prejudice to the comprehensive audit and thorough evaluation of our overall performance at the games which will soon be carried out under my guidance and leadership, the time has come for our country to spend as much, if not more, as it does for competitions in development and preparation, if we ever hope to get atop the medals table which we have only achieved once in 2003 when the country hosted the Games.”
Sports
NWFL: Rivers Angels Striker Targets Women CAF Champions League
Rivers Angels FC of Port Harcourt striker, Blessing Okpe has said that her target was to keep working hard and ensure her team seals the CAF Women’s champion’s league ticket this season.
According to her, no game comes easy but what is important is the approach towards each of the games, adding that she is playing for Rivers Angels to give her best in the round leather game.
Okpe said this recently in a chat with the team media officer, Faith Meremegbunam and made available to Tidesports even as she expressed happiness for scoring her first goal against FC Robo that gave her team a draw.
The stand-in captain also expressed joy as she captained the team to an impressive performance, saying that she would do her best to ensure the team move forward.
“I feel so great and so happy to lead the team and scoring the first goal against our opponents.
“After the 1 -1 in Ikenne, we came back home and gave ourselves the target of beating them here in Port Harcourt.”
“We never wanted to lose two straight home matches because the two home matches are an advantage to us.
“After we drew with Robo, we had to fight hard to win matches.”
“We will keep working hard, my target this season is to qualify for CAF women’s Champions’ League,” Okpe said.
Rivers Angels’ next game is against Edo Queens in Benin on February 28.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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