Sports
Rivers Sports Council Mourns Former Speaker
The Rivers State Sports Council is in morning over the recent death of former Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Tonye Harry, who was also the Chairman Rivers State Tennis Association and Deputy President, Nigeria tennis Federation.
The Board, Management, Chairman of Sports Associations and Staff of the Sports Council on Friday visited the family house of the late lawmaker in Port Harcourt to commiserate with his family members over their untimely loss.
Condoling with the widow and family, members of late Harry, leader of the delegation and Chairman of the Councils Board, Hon. Charles Paul noted that the death of Tonye Harry was a big blow not only to his family but to the Sports council and Sports world.
According to Hon. Paul, late Harry was key to the success story of Rivers State and the Sports Council, especially, in tennis. He single handedly ran the Tonye Harry Foundation and sponsors young tennis players to realize their potentials.
“He has been nice to us and sponsors tennis, which association he chaired and personally sponsored our athletes to represent the state at various levels”, he said.
The Chairman further said that his commitment to youth and Sports development was second to none and prayed that his legacies, especially, the Foundation be sustained.
He prayed for peace and God’s protection for his family.
“It is our prayer that God will continue to be with the family, gibe them and us the fortitude to bear the loss”.
He further urged the family to ensure peace in the home and see that the widow and children were not persecuted.
He promised to see that the council and the family liaise with the Foundation to immortalize late Harry with the annual tennis competition he used to organize.
Speaking on behalf of the family late Harry’s brother, Tamunotein E.W. Harry said that the late Lawmaker organiswed himself and family very well and assured that peace would continue to reign in the family.
Also speaking moments later, the Director of sports in the State, Sir Daobu Harry described the State Tennis Association Chairman as everything to the Sports Council. He recalled that in the past three National Sports festivals, the late Harry sponsored the tennis association single-handedly and nurtured players to win medals for the state.
“He has contributed a lot to the State’s overall achievement at the National Sports festival and beyond. We’re really lost a sportsman, philanthropist, sponsor and an administrator”, said the Director of Sports.
The Chairman of Handball association, Kwashi Thompson on behalf of Sports association Chairman described late Harry as a sports reform and a strong pillar who came through the ranks.
“He truly embedded in the promotion of sports, especially, tennis, without Tonye, there was no tennis in Rivers State, it is going to be a herculean task trying to fill the vacuum his death has created, you can understand what that means”, said Thompson.
He urged people, especially, those that are well-to-do to emulate his sports philanthropy and commitment.
Sports
CAA Wants Ghana To Host 2026 Athletics Champions
The Confederation of African Athletics has invited Ghana to bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 African Athletics Championships, following a successful athletics event at the just concluded 2023 African Games.
President of Ghana Athletics, Bawa Fuseini, stated this and expressed confidence in the transformative potential of the Legon Stadium for athletes and Ghana’s bid to host international competitions.
With a capacity of 11,000, the Legon Stadium played a pivotal role in the recent African Games, hosting both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as various sporting events including athletics, football, and rugby.
Fuseini highlighted the success of the athletics events held at the stadium, which contributed to Ghana winning six medals.
“We have already started getting requests from the Confederation of African Athletics to bid for the 2026 African Athletics Championships.
“When they came and saw what we have put in place and the level of organisation, they told me that for the last 20 years, they’ve never seen any organisation like this before. We did three official courses. And the last one, we had 110, all of them passed. We had a lot of officials and equipment.”
Since its establishment in 1979, Ghana has never hosted the African Athletics Championships, with Nigeria being the host country twice, in 1989 and 2018.
This year, Cameroon will take the reins as the host nation, with the event set to be held at the Olembe Stadium.
Sports
‘Reasons Why Eagles Lost To Mali’
The friendly games against Ghana and Mali were to serve as an audition for George Finidi, who was in charge of the team on an interim basis, but the Eagles’ lacklustre display in those friendlies has called for his further evaluation.
Finidi kept faith with ex-coach Jose Peseiro’s defensive formation against Mali on the back of his first win (against Ghana) in charge of the team four days earlier.
But this time, his defence was punished following a combination of defensive errors and poor passes.
The Eagles struggled to play out of defence due to the high pressing of the Malians and it was no surprise that the first goal by Les Aigles was a direct result of their aggression.
Chidozie Awaziem, who started on the right of the back three alongside Kenneth Omeruo and Semi Ajayi, lacked composure and was pressured into making a pass across his box straight at Bilal Toure, who made no mistake in getting the ball past Stanley Nwabali. They missed the calming presence of injured William Troost-Ekong.
Vice captain, Kenneth Omeruo, was also culpable of misplaced passes and was beaten for pace when Kamory Doumbia ran past him to seal Mali’s first win in over four decades, firing his shot past a helpless Nwabali, who stood no chance.
Eagles wing backs, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Jamilu Collins also did not do enough to support the team in attack when they had the chance to.
Lack of creativity
Finidi paired Raphael Onyedika and Wilfred Ndidi in a double pivot in midfield. Both players are naturally anchor men and neither is a box-to-box midfielder.
They both do not possess the offensive capability to drive the team’s attack forward, which left the Eagles once again craving for a natural creative midfielder.
Sports
Onigbinde Not Sacked – Chairman
Chairman of Doma United, Suleiman Umar, has said head, coach Akinade Onigbinde was not relieved of his duties after the club announced former Kwara United, Niger Tornadoes and Katsina United coach, Abubakar Bala, as an addition to their technical crew.
Bala was announced as the technical adviser by the club on Wednesday.
According to the club, Bala’s appointment was necessitated by the dwindling fortunes of the team in the second stanza of the Nigeria Premier Football League, which has seen them drop to 13th in the table with 34 points after 27 matches.
“The appointment of Coach Bala is imperative given our recent challenges in the second half of the season. We believe his extensive experience in managing teams within the league will significantly contribute to our objective of maintaining our status,” Umar said in a statement.
“It’s worth noting that coach Bala will be collaborating closely with Coach Onigbinde and our dedicated coaching staff. The technical department is not open to all, and we caution against unwarranted meddling as we remain focused on our objectives.”
The Savannah Tigers are winless in eight matches since the start of the second stanza with their last win in the league being their 2-0 win over Katsina United in January.
Their performance is a stark contrast to the first half of the campaign, when they ranked in the top three.
With 11 matches to the end of the season, Bala and Onigbinde must find a way to rescue the club as they sit just three points above the relegation zone.
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