Sports

Handball Coaches Commend Federation Over League Competition

Published

4 months ago

May 20, 2019

Some handball coaches on Saturday in Abuja commended the present board of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN) for organising competitions to enhance the development of the game in the country.
Bala Mohammed, the chief coach of the Federal Road safety Corps (FRSC) Handball Clubs said the federation under the leadership of Samuel Ocheho has done a great job by securing a sponsor for the premier league.
“We have seen some tremendous changes. The present administration has secured sponsors for the league, which is the Prudent Energy and it has been working hard to bring back the lost glory of handball.
“I will like to commend the HFN President. He has done a wonderful work by bringing some innovation into the game of handball in Nigeria,” he said.
Solomon Yola, the coach of Kano Pillars said even though the former HFN board organised competitiond, but its efforts could not be compared to that of the present administration.
“The previous administration did have a league but it was just for one season, and this present board has come up with this league and it’s now in the second edition.
“It’s very pleasant to everybody, from coaches to officials, players and the fans. We need consistency and this administration is just doing that.
“The federation’s technical department has been picking talented players from all competitions, and they are of very different ages from all categories,” he said.
Ibrahim Nabado, the coach of Niger Vipers said the present HFN administration, was doing well.
He added that it was unfortunate it did not receive financial support from the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development.
“The present board is trying its best and it has done a lot, through the effort of securing external sponsors, the Prudent Energy company, and we are proud of its achievement.”
The coach added that the federation however choose a wrong time for this competition because of the Ramadan period.
“You should not expect anything too much from the players, because most of them are fasting and the time for the matches is not really too conducive for players.
“You don’t expect someone to play matches at 11:30 p.m and go home starting to walk from one end of the stadium to their hostel because the organisers did not provide transportation to convey players in the midnight.
“They will finish their games and go to rest for just two to three hours and start fasting. Then they come back by 8 a.m. to start another game.
“It is very stressful for players and coaches.
“So, the federation’s board

Sports

Nigeria Now 34th Position In FIFA Ranking

Published

3 days ago

The Tide

Nigeria has dropped by one spot in the FIFA ranking for September, placing 34th on the ranking table.
In the ranking table on the world football governing body’s website yesterday, Nigeria garnered 1, 482 points in the month under review as against 1,481 it had in August.
However, in spite of the drop by a spot, Nigeria still occupy the third position on the continent behind Senegal and Tunisia who have 1,546 and 1,493 respectively.
On the global scene, Belgium remain top of the FIFA World Ranking after an action-packed number of weeks in international football.
In the period under review, 78 friendlies, 74 continental qualifiers and 60 FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifiers took place.
Although the teams in the top 10 remain unchanged, there has been some movements.
France (second, up 1) and Brazil (third, down 1) have traded places, while Spain (seventh, up 2) are the top 10’s biggest movers.
The Cayman Islands (193rd, up 11) and Grenada (160th, up 13) are the joint-biggest climbers by points, reaping the rewards after their successful showing in the CONCACAF Nations League.
Indeed, Grenada’s 13-place surge means that they are September’s highest climber by ranks.
Other notable upwardly-mobile nations include Jamaica (47th, up 5), who have broken into the top 50.
Others are the Republic of Ireland (28th, up 4), Russia (42nd, up 4), Guatemala (133rd, up 11), Suriname (142nd, up 9), Montserrat (187th, up 9) and Djibouti (186th, up 9).
Djibouti recently overcame Eswatini (150th, down 11) over two legs to advance to the second round of Africa’s World Cup qualifying for just the second time.
Meanwhile, Kosovo (119th, up 1) have been rewarded for their impressive performances in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying by reaching their best-ever position in the FIFA ranking.
The Cook Islands are not ranked in the latest standings due to not playing an international “A” match in the last four years.
After their next international “A” match, they will be included in the ranking table again with their points total from July 2019, plus/minus the points won or lost in the new match.

Sports

LSSC Salutes Sanwo-Olu, Lauds Athletes

Published

3 days ago

The Tide

The Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) is full of appreciation to the Governor of Lagos, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the support towards the state’s participation at the just concluded 5th National Youth Games (NYG) held in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Team Lagos came second overall at the end of the tournament, which ended on Monday at the University of Ilorin with 72 med- als consisting of 22 gold, 36 silver and 14 bronze medals, while Delta State with 41 gold, 32 silver and 31 bronze medals and Team Bayelsa with 17 gold, 6 silver and 22 bronze came second and third respectively.
Team Lagos was taking part for the second time in the history of the Games, which started since 2013.
Lagos was second in her first outing in 2018 and the state’s youthful and budding athletes ensured that they retained the position in their second outing in Ilorin.
Team Lagos was also adjudged as the Best Team in the March Past and was given an award of commendation in this year’s NYG.

Sports

Adekuoroye Wins Bronze Medal At World Wrestling Championships

Published

3 days ago

The Tide

Nigeria’s foremost female wrestler, Odunayo Adekuoroye, yesterday won a bronze medal at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships in Kazakhstan.
The 25-year-old defeated Anastasia Nichita of Moldova 10-0 in the women’s 57kg category to win the medal.
Adekuoroye had earlier beaten Sun Jong of North Korea 12-2 via technical superiority last Wednesday which helped her to gain a 2020 Tokyo Olympics slot.
The Tidesports source reports that Risako Kawai of Japan defeated Ningning Rong of China 9-6 to clinch the gold medal in the category.