Sports
Royal Hoopers Retain DStv Men’s Basketball League Title
Royal Hoopers of Port-Harcourt, the defending champions, DStv Men’s Basketball League, on Saturday in Lagos successfully retained their title at the end of 2011/2012 season.
Hoopers defeated former three-time champions of the league, Kano Pillars, 62-51 at the final to retain its title.
Fans at the In-door Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, venue of the competition, were thrilled to an exciting final match.
The defending champions took the first two quarters of the final match at 19-17 and 19-10 respectively.
Pillars however rallied from behind in the third set to narrowly claim the set at 11-10.
Hoopers mustered courage in the fourth and last quarter and also narrowly took the set at 14-13 to emerge the champions.
Dodan Warriors of Lagos defeated Lagos slanders 78-71 to emerge the third placed winners.
Hoopers went home with a cash prize of N1 million and a trophy, Pillars took N750,000, while Warriors received N500,000 and with a trophy each.
Pillars Adele Ademola emerged the highest re-bounder, Hoopers Kingsley Aguara was named the MVP, while Abubakar of Usman also of Pillars was the highest scorer.
The champions and runners-up would represent Nigeria at the Africa Club Championship later in the year.
Coach Ogoh Odaudu of Hoopers expressed delight on his team’s successful defense of its title.
“Our defense has finally confirmed us as the real champion, it was a rough start from the beginning but we are able to retain our title with determination,” Odaudu said.
He said that the club was faced with some financial challenges during the regular season which accounted for their low performance at the beginning of the season.
“I am happy we overcame the problems that affected our performance during the regular season. Thank God we are able to retain our title.
“It was not an easy fight to get to the final and win the title, because every team at the Final Eight is a potential winner,” Odaudu said.
Coach Ibrahim Maku of Pillars blamed their loss on too many mistakes made by his player during the final match adding that it was also a bad day for his team.
Maku who described Hoopers as a good team added that the winners made good use of every opportunity to make good basket.
The coach denounced insinuation that the ongoing fasting affected his players’ performance noting that his players after all won their preliminary and semi-final matches fasting.
Sports
Gyokeres Situation, Transfer Under Cloud At Sporting

Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no gentleman’s agreement for him to leave for £59million, says club president Frederico Varandas.
Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.
It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.
However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season.”
Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.
Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.
“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.
“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m euros or 80m euros. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million euros.’”
Sports
Concacaf Opposes 64-Team W’Cup Plans

Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has criticised a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams.
The plans, put forward by South American governing body Conmebol, have also drawn opposition from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But Conmebol said it wanted to add more participants to mark the competition’s 100-year anniversary.
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told Tidesports source
“We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.”
Concacaf is the governing body of football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was taken in 2017 following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress.
Fifa’s 75th congress will be held in Paraguay on 15 May, when Conmebol’s proposal could be discussed.
If the proposal is accepted, the 2030 edition would consist of 128 matches, double the number played under the 64-game format used from 1998 and 2022.
In March, Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said it would cause “chaos”.
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,” said Salman.
“But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”
Sports
Brazil Edge Paraguay, Book W’Cup Spot

Brazil qualified for the 2026 World Cup this week with a 1-0 win against Paraguay in South American qualifying to give Carlo Ancelotti his first win as manager.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr scored from close range in the second half, finishing after fine work from Manchester United-bound playmaker Matheus Cunha.
The victory, Ancelotti’s first after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador on his debut last week, means Brazil has now qualified for every edition of the World Cup.
“We needed to win and qualify for the World Cup,” said Vinicius Jr.
“Now the coach will have more time to work. Of course today wasn’t one of our best performances, but the important thing is always to win.
“Now it’s time to celebrate qualifying.”
Elsewhere, World Cup holders Argentina played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Colombia in Buenos Aires.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a fine individual goal, dancing through three defenders before finishing past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina was reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a high-boot challenge on Colombia’s Kevin Castano.
But Lionel Messi’s side found an equaliser nine minutes from the end through Lyon’s Thiago Almada, leaving Colombia four points clear of seventh-placed Venezuela.
Ecuador, Argentina’s nearest challengers, booked their spot at next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after a 0-0 draw away at Peru.
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