Sports
170 Players Enlist For CBN Tennis Tourney
No fewer than 170 play
ers have enlisted for the 2015 CBN Junior Tennis Championship scheduled to run from April 20 to today to April 25 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club.
The Director of the International Tennis Academy (ITA) Godwin Kienka, told a news conference at the weekend in Lagos that many national players had benefited from the event, through award of scholarships.
“We have players in the junior circuit in the U.S., Netherlands, and South Africa,” he said.
Kienka urged the newly discovered players to imbibe resilience as a way of life because it would help them.
The representative of the president of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Duro Ikhazuagbe said the event would feature boys and girls in the U-10, U-12, U-14 and U- 16 categories.
He said that Nigeria was now ranked 7th in Africa.
“It is events like this that have continued to boost the game; the recent international ranking that saw the country improve in ranking — 7th, is commendable,” Ikhazuagbe said.
According to him, the CBN Senior Championship that players look forward to with nostalgia is an off-shoot of the junior category.
He commended the organisers for a job well done and added that some of the players would now be in a position to take on their South African and Egyptian counterparts unlike in the past.
CBN Director of Corporate Affairs, Isaac Okoroafor, said that the 2015 event would be spectacular as participants would be made to play more games to prove their worth.
“As a corporate organisation, CBN is glad to see that many of our young players are keying into the competition.
“Our aim of sponsoring the event is being realised as so many budding talents are being discovered through the event.
“We wish to re-enact the good-old-days when we had the likes of Nduka Odizor and Tony Mno, etc,” Okoroafor said.
A tennis legend, Kehinde Ajayi, said the game had gained momentum in recent times in the country with lots of courts and competitions for players to hone their skills.
“Unlike our days when we rarely had standard turfs to play, the present players should take advantage of all available platforms to improve on their skills and exposure,” he said.
He said that some arenas like Molade-Okoya Thomas Tennis and the Lagos State tennis courts at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Yaba were available for players to use for free.
He urged parents looking for places for their children to train to make use of such arenas and improve the lot of their wards.
CBN future Team stars, represented by Martin Abamu and Nigeria female sensation Mary-love Edward, were presented to the public as upcoming talents.
Mary-love, who pledged to defeat any opponent that came her way in the 14 and 16 class, said that her strokes were now better.
“I been training ahead of this time for the event since the past two months at the National Stadium. I don’t see anybody that can stop me,” she said.
Keshi
Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no gentleman’s agreement for him to leave for £59million, says club president Frederico Varandas.
Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.
It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.
However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season.”
Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.
Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.
“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.
“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m euros or 80m euros. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million euros.’”
Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has criticised a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams.
The plans, put forward by South American governing body Conmebol, have also drawn opposition from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But Conmebol said it wanted to add more participants to mark the competition’s 100-year anniversary.
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told Tidesports source
“We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.”
Concacaf is the governing body of football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was taken in 2017 following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress.
Fifa’s 75th congress will be held in Paraguay on 15 May, when Conmebol’s proposal could be discussed.
If the proposal is accepted, the 2030 edition would consist of 128 matches, double the number played under the 64-game format used from 1998 and 2022.
In March, Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said it would cause “chaos”.
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,” said Salman.
“But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”
Brazil qualified for the 2026 World Cup this week with a 1-0 win against Paraguay in South American qualifying to give Carlo Ancelotti his first win as manager.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr scored from close range in the second half, finishing after fine work from Manchester United-bound playmaker Matheus Cunha.
The victory, Ancelotti’s first after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador on his debut last week, means Brazil has now qualified for every edition of the World Cup.
“We needed to win and qualify for the World Cup,” said Vinicius Jr.
“Now the coach will have more time to work. Of course today wasn’t one of our best performances, but the important thing is always to win.
“Now it’s time to celebrate qualifying.”
Elsewhere, World Cup holders Argentina played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Colombia in Buenos Aires.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a fine individual goal, dancing through three defenders before finishing past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina was reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a high-boot challenge on Colombia’s Kevin Castano.
But Lionel Messi’s side found an equaliser nine minutes from the end through Lyon’s Thiago Almada, leaving Colombia four points clear of seventh-placed Venezuela.
Ecuador, Argentina’s nearest challengers, booked their spot at next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after a 0-0 draw away at Peru.