Sports

Pistorius ‘ll Be Back On Track – Agent

Published

11 years ago

April 5, 2013

Oscar Pistorius will be welcomed at certain meetings when he returns to athletics, according to his agent.

The athlete, who denies murder after the shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp at his South Africa home in February, is on bail awaiting trial.

A court changed the 26-year-old’s bail restrictions last week to allow him travel abroad for competitions.

“I’ve received emails of support from various meeting directors,” Peet van Zyl told Tidesports source.

“When the time is right, we will approach competitions and I’m sure there will be guys out there who will be willing to have him back out on their track.

“But he is the only one who can determine if and when he is ready to train and return to competition.”

The South African double amputee, who is known as ‘Blade Runner’ because of his prosthetic legs, is on bail after being charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp, who was shot dead at his Pretoria home on 14 February.

Pistorius claims he mistook her for an intruder at his home.

Van Zyl, has also not ruled out the prospect of the athlete competing at August’s World Championships in Moscow.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which is the body responsible for the World Championships, told Tidesports source that Pistorius, who has competed at both Olympics and Paralympics, would be “free to run” in the event on the “basis of the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ principle”.

“First and foremost, he has to be ready to train and compete,” said van Zyl. “Once he is ready and feels he is up for training again, we will have him back on the track.

“He is a world-class athlete and if he does compete again this season – and if he achieves the qualifying times – it is something you would have to consider, but it is early days.

“He hasn’t trained for eight weeks, so to get back into competition form he would have to train first and it will take him time to get back to that level.”

Nova, the company which organises the Manchester City Games, said there were “no plans to invite him over” after the change in his bail conditions. Pistorius withdrew from the event, to be held on 25 May, after being charged.

It is also believed he is unlikely to be invited to compete at the London Anniversary Games in July at the Olympic Stadium.

At London 2012, Pistorius became the first double amputee to run at an Olympics. as he took part in both the 400m and 4x400m.

He then won gold medals in the T44 400m and T42-46 4x100m at the Paralympics, as well as silver in the T44 200m. The International Paralympic Committee told Tidesports source that Pistorius matter would be discussed at the IPC Athletics Championships, which take place in Lyon in July.

Sports

MOC Makes Appeal Over Age Cheats

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2023

The Tide

Organisers of the ongoing school athletics competition, MTN Champs, Making of Champions (MoC), have appealed to all athletes who have participated in the three legs of the championship, as well as their schools, parents, coaches and everyone connected to them to support the body in its efforts to eradicate the systemic age cheating in Nigeria’s athletics by committing to use their real ages at the Abuja grand final and in future.
“MTN has provided a historic opportunity for Nigeria to finally tackle the pressures that our athletes have long faced to cut their ages,” MoC said in a statement made available to news men.
“Never in our nation’s history has there been a nationwide series of championships that has provided three age groups cutting across ages 11 to 19, to give everyone possible opportunity to compete fairly in their own age groups, and we have even relaxed the junior age group from U-20 to U-23.
The grand finale will hold in Abuja from December 1 to 3.
The MoC statement added: “Despite the fact that appropriate age groups have been provided for everyone, we have seen widespread age discrepancies across all three age categories – Cadet (U-14) and Youth (U-17) categories, which are strictly for secondary schools only and juniors (U-20), which is open to all other teenagers.
“For example, we have seen a systematic pattern of an unusually high number of SS2 and SS3 students claiming to be 13 and 14 years old respectively. We have seen athletes who were 14 in 2021 claiming to still be 14 now, 18-year-olds who have finished secondary school already claiming to be 13 so that they can run against the cadets, and we have seen many athletes competing for schools they are not part of and in the wrong age categories as well.
“One of such schools, which was biggest offender in this area, is currently in the process of being disqualified, which will be announced shortly.”

Sports

NBBF President Commends Fubara Over DA-F Basketball Academy

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2023

The Tide

The President of Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Dr Musa Ahmedu Kida has commended the Coordinator of the DA-F basketball academy, Fubara Onyenabo for his role in the development of the game, especially, development of young talents.
Dr Kida, who is also the chairman of Rivers State Basketball Association made the commendation on Saturday during the final game of the Nigeria Basketball Premier League (NBPL), Final Four tournament in Port Harcourt.
He stated that he was happy see over 250 children of the DA-F basketball academy coming to welcome him back to Port Harcourt, adding that coming to Port Harcourt after 25 years, to like a home coming.
He prayed God to bless Fubara for ensuring that the young ones still have interest and are fully engaged in basketball. He added that the love between him and Fubara was beyond basketball.

By: Kiadum Edookor

Sports

Rivers Hoopers Win 2023 Nigeria Basketball League …Clinch BAL Ticket

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2023

The Tide

There were scenes of wild celebrations as Rivers Hoopers were crowned champions of the 2023 Nigeria Premier Basketball League after they defeated Nigeria Customs 77-57 to end the 2023 Premier Basketball League with an unbeaten record of 13 games.
Consequently, the KingsMen picked the ticket as Nigeria’s sole representative at the 2024 edition of the Basketball Africa League.
Earlier in the day, Gboko City Chiefs defeated Hoops & Read 80-70 to move temporarily on top of the league standings and opened up a three-way battle for the league title, with all of Gboko City Chiefs, Rivers Hoopers, and Nigeria Customs retaining the possibility of emerging champions.
The KingsMen approached the game with a strong mentality and went 14-4 inside the first five minutes of play in the first quarter, eventually seeing out the quarter 21-12.
Rivers Hoopers maintained the tempo as they took control of the game to finish the second quarter 38-27, and went into the halftime break with an 11-point lead.
The hosts had suffered a spectacular collapse in the third quarter during their previous games against Gboko City Chiefs and Hoops & Read, but with the league title and Basketball Africa ticket closer than ever, they were able to break their third quarter hoodoo as they dominated play to end the quarter 59-47.
The fourth quarter saw Customs come out fighting but for every question asked Rivers Hoopers had a fitting answer as the KingsMen took Customs to the cleaners with a 16-5 run in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter which finished 18-10 and the Rivers Hoopers held to wrap up a 20-point blowout.
The result sparked immediate jubilations as the vociferous home crowd who had shown tremendous support for the Hoopers throughout the Final Four tournament struggled to hold back their emotions.
Rivers Hoopers captain Victor Anthony Koko was instrumental in his side’s victory scoring a game high 23 points, 9 rebounds, with 10/13 shooting from the field and 3/3 from free throws on a night Hoopers enjoyed a 72.7 percent conversion rate from the line. Abel Offia added 15 points with three 3-pointers made in the 4th quarter. Olatoye Duro-Ladipo had 10 points.