Sports
Monarch Tasks Stakeholders On Grassroots Sports Dev
The Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Abdulraheem Adeoti, has called for stakeholders’ collective responsibility in ensuring the desired sports development in the area.
Adeoti made the call during the 2nd edition of Omu-Aran Mini-Marathon in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara yesterday.
TheTide source reports that the 10 km marathon race among secondary school students in the town was organised by Skylarks Club of Omu-Aran to boost youths’ participation in sporting activities in the area.
Adeoti, who commended the organisers for their vision and foresight as regards sports development, urged more public and private partnership to achieve the desired objective.
According to him, goverment alone cannot shoulder the wants and demands of every community, hence the need for collective efforts to achieving the desired target.
The monarch, who described running as a good form of exercise, urged the youth not to lose focus in combining sporting activities with their academic pursuit for them to stay healthy and achieve excellence in their studies.
He was hopeful that the event would be a continuous exercise in order to move the community forward as far as sports development was concerned.
The monarch said: “Running is a good form of strengthening our muscles and other parts of our body in order to be active health-wise.
“As you can see, I have been walking around since morning even before the commencement of the marathon race to show and lead by example.
“Our youths should be agile, active, particularly when it comes to sporting activities.
“Such will be a good motivation for them to excel in their academic programmes also,’’ he said.
President, Skylarks Club of Omu-Aran, Mr James Sangoyomi, in his remarks, noted that the club was determined to expand the scope of the game to accommodate more participants outside the community.
“We are just starting. Our plan is to expand this game to attract more students from other councils as a way of improving youths’ participation in sporting activities,’’ Sangoyomi said.
He said that the game was funded from donations by members and promised its sustenance in making the event a yearly one.
Tidesports also gathered that Abiodun Kehinde of Government Christian College, Omu-Aran; Afuye Blessing of Government Secondary School, Omu-Aran; and Bamidele Samson of Omu-Aran High School won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively in the male category.
Salim Mistura, Yusuf Barakat and Funmilayo Abolarin, all of Omu-Aran High School won 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively in the female category.
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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