Sports
AFCON 2021: S’Eagles Target Perfect Record Against Motivated Guinea Bissau
Despite being assured of qualification and top position in Group D at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, who are expected to ring some changes in the starting eleven, would still go for the kill and maximum points against the African Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau in today’s last group match.
The Eagles, apart from chasing a 100 per cent haul of points would want to match a record of winning all group matches in the tournament, set on only two previous occasions while playing under the same Coach Austine Eguavoen.
Two wins in as many games have set the Eagles up for the round of 16 but today’s game with Guinea Bissau is an opportunity for Eguavoen, while keen on victory, to test run some players yet to be fully tested at the championship.
Interim Coach Augustine Eguavoen has already admitted that he will be rotating players for this match: “Everybody in this team has a chance to play in this tournament, so with qualification secured, we will be giving some players the opportunity to play in the next game.”
Though the coach would like to remain competitive in the game, players like Wilfried Ndidi and Joe Aribo are likely to be rested for Kelechi Nwakali and Frank Onyeka to prove their mettle. Also, Samuel Chukwueze and energetic Moses Simon may give way to Alex Iwobi and Chidera Ejuke to try to expresss themselves and provide confidence on squad depth going forward.
It remains to be seen if Umar Sadiq will come in for Taiwo Awoniyi, although you are inclined to give the Almeria frontman significant minutes despite the ongoing criticism over cameos against Egypt and Sudan.
Admittedly, making a glut of changes has its demerits, including a lack of rhythm for the incoming players owing to a dearth of game time, the risk of an incoherent display and preferred starters losing momentum.
The Super Eagles may have played themselves into reckoning with their performance in the two previous matches, Guinea Bissau, who drew their first match 0-0 with Sudan and lost narrowly 0-1 to seven time winners, Egypt in controversial circumstances may pose a potential banana peel for the Eagles.
According to one of their midfielders, Pele, “It is our ambition to qualify and we are not giving up on that, we must do everything to defeat Nigeria because it is very important for us,” said the Monaco player. “We will fight with everything we have and if we played as we did against Egypt, we will qualify. We want everyone at home proud of us.”
This is why the Eagles, their handlers and whoever gets the chance to play today must not take anything for granted. The team has evoked great expectations from Nigerians and their fans, they must not lower the standard already reached.
While today’s game does not change the Eagles’ fate, Eguavoen will hope that the stand-ins flourish as they look to end the group stage without a blemish. Nine points from a possible nine for the first time since 2006 has a nice ring to it.
Meanwhile, Sudan will seek an upset win over old rivals Egypt when the teams meet in the other Group D clash at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde today.
Sudan heads into this clash sitting bottom of the log after a 0-0 draw with Guinea-Bissau and 3-1 loss at the hands of Nigeria this past weekend.
The Falcons of Jediane are still in last 16 contention, but they must beat Egypt to have a chance of snatching second place or being one of the top-ranked third-place finishers.
By: Gabriel Nwanetanya
Sports
African Games: Nigerian Women Athletes Make Country Proud Again
Before, the saying that ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better’ is usually met with resistance.
In sports, that saying has been validated over and over again with the performances of female athletes in comparison to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to quantifying their contributions to their country’s success at multi-sports events like the Olympic, Commonwealth and African Games.
For Nigeria, the women have once again proven to be the most consistent and reliable by winning the most medals for the country at the just-concluded 13th African Games in Ghana. Nigeria finished second behind Egypt in the overall medals table with a total of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze.
The women’s contribution to Team Nigeria’s haul is 71 compared to the male athletes’ 47, while three were won in mixed events. That number makes up 58.67 per cent of Nigeria’s total medals.
Significantly, the women also won 35 out of Team Nigeria’s 47 gold, leaving 11 to the male, while the other one was won in the mixed 4x400m relay, which was inspired by one of the two women in the quartet, Omolara Ogunmakinju.
The women’s gold medal haul is a whopping 74 per cent of Nigeria’s total gold.
Interestingly, the women’s 35 gold would have been enough to see Nigeria top the overall medals table, if it was an all-female affair as Egypt, who won the Games recorded 33 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze medals from their female athletes.
On the other hand, the men’s 11 gold would mean Nigeria would finish joint third with Tunisia, who’s men also won 11 gold medals while Egypt will retain their number one spot with 66 gold from their men and Algeria second with 19.
There were also 18 silver medals from the women, two more than the 16 won by the men. In terms of bronze medals, the men had the upper hand with 20 medals, two more than the women’s 18 while two medals were won in mixed games for a total of 40.
Notably, there were stellar performances from Nigeria’s female wrestlers at the Games as the six of them (Blessing Oborududu, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Hannah Reuben, Christiana Ogunsanya, Mercy Genesis and Esther Kolawole) had a clean sweep of the wrestling event.
Also, four among the five weightlifters who won three gold medals each are women (Eze Joy, Ayodele Ruth, Lawal Rafiatu, and Olarinoye Adijat).
All the seven female boxers for Nigeria also won medals – five gold (Joy Ojo, Patricia Mbata, Cynthia Ogunsemilore, Blessing Oraekwe, Jacinta Umunnakwe) and two silver (Zainab Adeshina, Kareem Shukura).
In athletics, world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, retained her African Games title by winning a third consecutive crown while long jumper Ese Brume also successfully defended her title by winning a second African Games gold in the event.
According to the 2023 African Games website, in terms of representation, Nigeria’s 437 contingent also had more women (221) than the men (216).
Beyond the 2023 African Games, female Nigeria athletes have shown greater prospects than their male counterparts.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the women won all the gold for Team Nigeria as the country put up their best outing ever, snatching a record 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals to erase their previous best performance at the Games, 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals in 1994 in Victoria, Canada.
The men took the back seat, managing just three silver and six bronze medals out of a total haul of 35 medals.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Nigeria’s only two medals were won by two female athletes, Blessing Oborududu (silver in wrestling) while Brume won bronze in long jump.
Amusan (gold) and Brume (silver) were also the only two medallists for Nigeria at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, USA, where the former stormed to the current women’s 100m hurdles record (12.12s) and also became the first ever world champion from Nigeria.
Sports
African Games: Minister Promises Swift Preparation For Egypt 2027
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has declared that the preparations for the 2027 African Games which will be held in Egypt will begin immediately, as the contingent to the just concluded 13th edition of the Games in Ghana arrived on Sunday.
Team Nigeria arrived in the country’s capital Abuja and Lagos in batches on Sunday via chartered flights provided by the Ministry of Sports Development.
In Ghana, Team Nigeria had an impressive outing and finished second in the overall medals table with a total number of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze medals.
Although the foreign-based athletes who were part of Nigeria’s success at the Games have also returned directly to their bases, Enoh believes a head start ahead of the 2027 Games will give the country an edge in their quest to claim top spot for the first time since hosting the Games in 2003.
“On behalf of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, I welcome you back to our dear country. I congratulate you for your outstanding performance in the just concluded 13th African Games that held in the Ghana,” the minister said in a statement obtained by our correspondent last Sunday.
“While you bask in the euphoria of your exploits and worthy sense of achievement, let me quickly remind you that preparations for the 14th African Games built to hold in Egypt starts now. As your Sports development minister, dubbed Nigeria’s Games Master General, I sure will be with you all the way.
“Without prejudice to the comprehensive audit and thorough evaluation of our overall performance at the games which will soon be carried out under my guidance and leadership, the time has come for our country to spend as much, if not more, as it does for competitions in development and preparation, if we ever hope to get atop the medals table which we have only achieved once in 2003 when the country hosted the Games.”
Sports
NWFL: Rivers Angels Striker Targets Women CAF Champions League
Rivers Angels FC of Port Harcourt striker, Blessing Okpe has said that her target was to keep working hard and ensure her team seals the CAF Women’s champion’s league ticket this season.
According to her, no game comes easy but what is important is the approach towards each of the games, adding that she is playing for Rivers Angels to give her best in the round leather game.
Okpe said this recently in a chat with the team media officer, Faith Meremegbunam and made available to Tidesports even as she expressed happiness for scoring her first goal against FC Robo that gave her team a draw.
The stand-in captain also expressed joy as she captained the team to an impressive performance, saying that she would do her best to ensure the team move forward.
“I feel so great and so happy to lead the team and scoring the first goal against our opponents.
“After the 1 -1 in Ikenne, we came back home and gave ourselves the target of beating them here in Port Harcourt.”
“We never wanted to lose two straight home matches because the two home matches are an advantage to us.
“After we drew with Robo, we had to fight hard to win matches.”
“We will keep working hard, my target this season is to qualify for CAF women’s Champions’ League,” Okpe said.
Rivers Angels’ next game is against Edo Queens in Benin on February 28.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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