Sports
First Togolese Club Reaches ACL Group Phase
Port of Togo and Morocco’s Difaa el Jadida caused the biggest shocks at the weekend Sunday in the second leg of the African Champions League ACL last-32 ties.
Port became the first Togolese side to make the group phase of Africa’s elite club competition, knocking out Sudan’s Al Hilal on away-goals.
Difaa el Jadida overcame former African champions AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo with a 2-2 draw in Kinshasa to win 3-2 on aggregate.
Port knew they had a good chance to create history in the second leg of their tie against Al Hilal, having won their home leg 2-0 in Togo.
Al Hilal took the aggregate score to 2-1 after just five minutes through Geovane, but Port hit back immediately as Ayi struck two minutes later to make it 3-1 overall.
The hosts continued to try and claw their way back and were rewarded with further goals from Elnour and Bashier in the second half to make it 3-3 overall.
However, it was not enough for the Sudanese outfit as Port secured their passage into the group phase on the away-goals ruling.
Morocco’s Difaa el Jadida – who earlier in the competition had achieved a record win over Benfica of Guinea-Bissau – took a slender 1-0 lead to Kinshasa for the return leg against Vita Club.
Mundele hit a brace for Vita Club but it was not enough, as a goal from Ahaddad and then a stoppage time equaliser from Nanah gave Jadida a 2-2 draw on the night, to win 3-2 on aggregate.
The clubs who qualified for the Champions League group phase will now be divided into four pools after a seeded draw, with the winners and runners-up from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.
The championship will run from today to October 12 at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia. On the ground for the championship are athletes from Brazil, Peru, Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Mauritius and Rwanda. They arrived on Sunday.
Some of the other countries were expected in the Abia State capital yesterday. Speaking on the championship, yesterday, Abia State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Nwobilor Ananaba, said the chief host, Governor Alex Otti, has mobilised facilities and the personnel to ensure a successful event.
Speaking through the Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports, Raymond Chima Ukwa, said: “We have the best mats, playing mats, especially the wheelchair playing mats, which is the first of its kind in West Africa.
“If you go around, you’ll see the hall and the preparation that has been made to ensure that people have an equitable world-class playing field.” Thrilled by Governor Otti’s support for the competition, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) President, Francis Orbih, said that, besides making all the necessary arrangements that will ensure a successful hosting of the events, “we will have a Para-Badminton workshop for coaches and players.
“Nigeria is doing well, Abia is doing well, and we want to do better to improve on where we are, which is why all these have been put together by Governor Otti.”
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles began their campaign at the 24th FIFA U20 World Cup with a narrow 1–0 loss to Norway on Monday, despite creating several opportunities to level the game.
Norway took the lead in the 9th minute after being awarded a controversial penalty. The Flying Eagles pressed for an equaliser but were denied two penalty claims in the second half.
Kparobo Arierhi came close in the 47th minute when his shot drifted wide with the goalkeeper beaten, while Tahir Maigana struck the upright in the 63rd minute.
Nasiru Salihu’s rising effort in the 71st minute also went narrowly over the bar, drawing gasps from the crowd.
Seven minutes from time, Maigana again tested Norway with a long-range strike that went just wide as Nigeria continued to pile on the pressure.
Despite their dominance, the Flying Eagles could not find the breakthrough and now turn their attention to Thursday’s clash against Saudi Arabia in their second group match.
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