Sports
‘No Coaching Vacancy In Eagles’
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Sani Lulu Abdullahi said on Monday that the Federation has not at anytime declared vacant the position of Super Eagles’ head coach, currently occupied by Mr. Shuaibu Amodu.
“We appreciate that as a result of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup finals, there is bound to be extensive debate over certain issues.
But the NFF wishes to make clear that there is no vacancy for the Head Coach’s position. We have followed the raging debate over a new head coach or whatever and we find it necessary to make this clarification,” said Lulu.
Few days to the Moslem world’s celebration of the Eid-el-Kabir, Lulu reiterated that some people are simply wasting precious time sharpening knives for a ram that had long bolted.
“Coaching, as in most sectors of football, has to do with results. Let us forget the sound and fury, and work with statistics.
In his 15 years in and out of the senior team as Head Coach, Shuaibu Amodu has lost only one competitive match. In 12 matches during qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, he won nine and drew three, losing none.
“It is time that we start appreciating what we have as a people. This is the re-branding that the Federal Government is talking about. It is hard to find a man with such record in today’s international game, and who has also qualified his country for the FIFA World Cup on two occasions, not even talking about Amodu’s feat in earning us our first berth in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. We made a pledge to stick by Amodu and we will not go back now.”
Lulu made it clear that Wednesday’s meeting of the NFF Executive Committee will deliberate on how Nigeria can participate creditably at next year’s African Nations Cup and World Cup finals, as well as in other international engagements.
Amodu, who also qualified Nigeria for the 2002 World Cup finals by leading the Eagles to win their last two matches of an otherwise floundering campaign, attended Friday’s African Nations Cup Draw ceremony in Luanda, Angola. He was there with NFF’s 1st Vice President Amanze Uchegbulam, General Secretary Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Media Officer Ademola Olajire.
The Eagles are housed in Group C against defending champions Egypt, Mozambique and Benin Republic in the group phase.
Nigeria will play Cup holders Egypt in the opening match of Group C in Benguela with tantalizing games against neighbours Benin Republic and World Cup qualifying foes Mozambique to follow. The match against Mozambique will take place in Lubango.
Benguela is 692 kilometres from the capital Luanda. There is no land transportation in a country devastated by three decades of civil war, and where infrastructure has largely collapsed. There is a big race to get key issues like stadia, airports and hospitals ready for the finals and basic things are in short supply despite oil money.
Benguela is a city of 1.4 million people while Lubango is a city of 2.6 million inhabitants. The Benguela Stadium has capacity for 35,000 people while Lubango Stadium can hold 20,000.
Already, the Nigeria Embassy in Luanda has started mobilizing the approximately 5,000 Nigerians living in Angola to be ready to travel to Benguela and Lubango to support the Super Eagles in January. Nigeria’s first match is against Egypt on January 12, with the game against Benin Republic coming up four days later and that against Mozambique scheduled for Lubango on January 20.
Sports
How Day Six Lifted Rivers At NYG
Team Rivers added six more medals to their total haul on Day 7 of the National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State. The medals include two gold and four bronze.
In 4×400 metres male, the quartet of Michael Aniche, Benjamin Progress (both 13), Willngton Majesty and Daniel Caleb (both 14) returned a time 3 mins, 26 secs to pick the gold medal.
In 4×400 metres girls, four 14-year-olds Osinachi Miracle Sunny, Queen Nwika, Esther Barasin and Valerie Amapakagbo, came third behind Delta and Anambra to get bronze.
Still in the relays, this time in the 4×100 metres for boys, 14-year-old Itoemugh Kingsley teamed up with Daniel Caleb, Michael Aniche and Gauis Expensive for yet another bronze medal performance.
Gaius Expensive, a 14-year-old SS3 student of Community Secondary School, Ogan-Ama narrowly surrendered second place to his Akwa Ibom counterpart to land his second bronze of the day, in the 200 metres boys, while age-mate Honest Dike of Baptist Vocational College, Ahoada also landed bronze in the 800 metres boys, behind Taraba and Gombe.
The second gold medal of the day for Team Rivers came in the final of baseball for boys. The team found themselves one run down before rallying to beat Kwara by 4 runs to 3.
The game which was almost marred by trouble was disrupted when the crowd, solidly behind the Rivers side perceived some fowl officiating.
However, the team, which according to Coach Fineface Fate and manager, Shaibu Adamson has been together for about a year, came from behind to win, with runs from Abdulkadiri Idowu, Yusuf Sodiq, Abdulfatai Abdullahi and Matthew Ayoola.
The games ended yesterday with the closing ceremony.
Sports
Bakery Worker Secures Gold For Anambra In Asaba
Anambra State Karateka, Goodluck Njoku defeated Joshua Ehiozubue from Lagos State with 7-0 points on Friday to win a gold medal in the 50kg boys karate event at the ongoing National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.
The newly crowned 50kg champion revealed that he works in the bakery to support himself and to avoid social vices.
The 13-year-old said that it was while he was on his way to work that he met Sensei Godwin Okoro who introduced him to karate. Making his debut at the 2023 Youth Games,
Njoku promised not to disappoint the state in future national championships, noting that this is just the beginning.
“I want to thank God Almighty for his goodness and mercies in my life. In my category, I was the shortest, and I still won the gold medal. During the holidays, I work in the bakery to support myself and my parents because I do not want to remain idle.
“I attend Okpoko Community Primary School, and after closing hours, I still go to the bakery to make a little money. One day, Sensei Godwin Okoro saw me and decided to introduce me to karate. I do not know what he saw in me, but I thank God he took me in.
“The state has given me the necessary exposure at the National Youth Games, and this is an opportunity to give back to the state via winning medals. I want to assure you that this is just the beginning of the success story,” he said.
Sports
Squash Top Seeds Show Class At Classics
Top seeds, Onaopemipo Adegoke and Rophiat Abudulazeez showed class after winning the maiden edition of the Bolatito Adeyemo Squash Classics held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend.
Top 16 players made up of eight men and eight women competed at the two-day tournament.
Adegoke who recently won his first Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament, defeated Gabriel Olufunmilayo 3-2 to clinch the men’s trophy.
Abudulazeez defeated Jadesola Olatunji 3-0 to reach the finals, while Adegoke defeated Kehinde Samuel by 3-0 to advance into the finals.
Abudulazeez defeated Mistura Durosinlorun 3-1 as she maintained dominance in the women’s category.
For her feat, Abudulazeez went home with N100,000 while Durosinlorun took N60, 000 home while Olatunji and Isaac humbly went home with N30,000 each.
“My trip to Namibia really got me tired but we can’t just ignore this tournament. My game in Namibia also helped but I’m really fagged out,” she said.
Adegoke said that training hard and having played in highly competitive tournaments in recent times have helped to keep him in form.
“Winning my first PSA title in Namibia was a dream come true, there was minus zero support from the audience but with God’s grace and a healthy mental strength I was able to keep it together,” he said.
Prize money for the men’s category is N130,000 while the second position goes home with N80,000 while the third position and fourth position goes home with N40,000 and N20,000 respectively.
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