Sports
Sporting Community Endorses Wike For Second Term
Rivers Sporting Community on Monday unanimously endorsed Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike for a second term.
This is as the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike urged the sporting community to defend their votes in 2019.
Thousands of sportsmen, women and their supporters declared that their endorsement of Governor Wike is premised on the governor’s revival of sports after the former administration destroyed it.
The sporting community marched from Isaac Boro Park through the streets of the Old GRA to the Government House, Port Harcourt. The procession was carnival-like, as the sports community celebrated Governor Wike.
Mr Franklin Owhor moved a motion endorsing Governor Wike for the 2019 re-election. He said the sporting community will support the governor to emerge victorious.
The motion was seconded by Prince Kali Obi, who said that all members of the sporting community are wholeheartedly in support of the Rivers State Governor.
President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Mr Honour Sirawoo said that Governor Wike emerged as the Power of Sports Award winner because of his outstanding credentials.
He said that the award received the widest international media coverage, because the international sporting press appreciates the investments of Governor Wike in the sports sector. He said Governor Wike needs to continue for greater development of the state.
Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr Christopher Green described Governor Wike as the Pillar of Sports in Africa .
Green said: “Governor Wike has brought national and international recognition to Rivers people. We are proud to be Rivers people because of the performance of the Rivers State Governor “.
Responding, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said that it is obvious that the APC Federal Government is not interested in conducting elections , hence all Nigerians must be vigilant.
“The sign is there that they want to rig the elections. They want to simply write results. What happened last Friday when they invaded the State High Court is an eye-opener”, he said.
The governor reiterated that the APC Federal Government has not executed any project in Rivers State. He wondered why the Minister of Transportation has not used his position to attract any project to the state.
“Because they have done nothing in Rivers State, they will plan to rig. But I can only wish them bad luck. Be prepared to defend your votes”, he said.
He said that his administration has touched the lives of the people through pro-people projects. He said the 2015 defeated Rivers State APC Governorship Candidate lived in Diobu but failed to construct their roads as Works Commissioner. He said the roads have been constructed under his leadership.
While thanking the Rivers Sporting Community for their endorsement, Governor Wike said that henceforth Rivers athletes will be sponsored for major foreign sports events. He announced that five Rivers Angels players, five Rivers United Players and three Go-round Football Club players will be sponsored to the World Cup in Russia.
He said that CAF President will be in Rivers State on 28th May, 2018 to flag off the construction of the Real Madrid Football Academy in the state.
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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