Sports
Travel Cost Affects Continental Swimming Competitions – NAF President
President, Nigeria Aquatics Federation (NAF), Babatunde Fatai-Williams, says that high cost of air travel within Africa is hindering the organisation of continental swimming competitions.
Fatai-Williams, also the President of CANA Zone 2 that includes West and Central African countries, made the assertion yesterday in Lagos in an interview with newsmen.
The Lagos-born veteran swimming administrator said the high cost of air travel within Africa accounted for the few competitions often experienced in the Africa’s swimming federations.
“It is true that we need to develop swimming in Africa, but we have challenges, especially the cost of air travel within Africa.
“The problem we have in Africa is the air transportation which is too expensive. Travelling within Africa is as expensive as travelling to far Europe at times.
“What it costs us to take a team to Dakar in Senegal is the same amount to Europe and that is one of the challenges we are facing. Air transportation is too expensive.
“Sometimes too, there are no direct flight to some countries and it is equally expensive for some West African countries coming to Nigeria for competitions,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that CANA was trying to address the challenge, adding: “Nigeria could only send few swimmers to the championships in Bloemfontein, South Africa because of the cost of transportation.
“Travelling by road is not the option because the roads are bad.
“What we do now is to encourage each country to develop the sport within their domain because the stronger we are individually, the better for all of us.
“For us in CANA Zone 2, we have relationships among ourselves and maybe having zonal competitions,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that to develop the indigenous swimmers, the federation was considering championships with neighbouring countries to minimise cost.
“We will consider having competitions with neighbouring countries which are close to us in terms of ranking; for Nigeria, Senegal is the closest.
“Senegal is the closest to us not in terms of distance but we have excellent relationships with them in spite of language differences.
“Countries like Ivory Coast and Togo are also coming up but they are not on the same level with Nigeria,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that Nigeria would host this year’s annual CANA Zone 2 Championships in Lagos, adding that preparation was in top gear to ensure its success.
“In 2012, we hosted the CANA Zone 2 championships in Akure and it was a fantastic outing. This year, we have been given the hosting right.
“The competition will be held later in the year because of the crowded events the association has. We have a world event in July followed by the Masters in August.
“So, for the CANA Zone 2, it will be either in September or October and we have two options for the hosting; it’s either at the Teslim Balogun Stadium or National Stadium Swimming pool.
“We are excited to host because we came second in the last edition in Dakar and it is always good for us to compete among ourselves within the zone,’’ he said.
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
‘I’m Not Under Pressure To Coach Eagles’
Finidi George, head coach of the Nigeria Premier Football Leagues side, Enyimba, has stated that he is not losing any sleep over getting the Super Eagles job on a permanent basis.
Early this month, the Nigeria Football Federation declared the position of the Super Eagles’ head coach vacant, following the exit of Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who led the side to a second-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup Nations in Ivory Coast in February.
In an advertisement on its website calling for applications with a March 13 deadline, the football governing body stated that the prospective Eagles coach “must have proven experience at the elite level of football.”
The former Ajax man, who also applied for the job, was appointed Eagles interim coach for the international window with the former winger picking a win and suffering a defeat.
In an interview with Tidesports source, the 52-year-old tactician said he was not desperate for the job permanently.
“I felt really good when I was told to take charge of the team. I have been with the team for almost two years, I know all the players, their strengths, and their weaknesses but I am only here to serve Nigeria the way I know how to do stuff.
“I will just take these two games and go back to my club. Whatever the decision is taken after, so be it. I’m not under pressure to say I must get the role permanently.”
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.
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