Sports

12-Year-Old Boy Wins NAF 10Km Walk

Published

7 years ago

August 13, 2018

A 12-year-old boy, Agbama Daniel, who participated in the Air Force 10 Km Annual Walk/Run/Jog exercise, organised by the Tactical Air Command (TAC), Makurdi, last Saturday in Makurdi, won the fastest Base Boy prize.
Agbama, who lives with his Airforce father at the NAF Base, was declared the fastest out of many other boys that competed in the race.
The boy said he had been running and jogging longer distances.
No official recording of the time within which the exercise was completed was given.
The event was organised for both security personnel and their families living at the NAF Base.
Tidesports source reports that more than 200 personnel drawn from the various security and paramilitary organisations also participated in the exercise in Makurdi.
Tidesports source also reports that the event, which holds annually, seeks to boost inter-agency cooperation among sister security agencies and promote healthy lifestyles of officers and men.
All activities were divided into male and female categories and competed for by both officers and men.
For the female category of Joggers, Flight Lieutenant OC Moses, emerged the only winner with a finish time of 1:11:27 seconds.
The first position of the Female Officers Walk was won by Squadron Leader EE Danjuma, who completed the exercise in 1:22:21 seconds, while the second position was won by Flight Lt. AJ Enemanna, with a time of 1:22:54 seconds. No one came third.
For the Air Women Joggers, Cpl. Awokoya, who finished the exercise in 52’5seconds came first, Air-Craftswoman (ACW) RN Nebo came second with 58.18 secs, while ACW-JC Onyezim was third with 1:40 mins.
Master Warrant Officer Emeghauabe, won the first position in ACW Walkers category, having finished in 1:15:16secs.
His closest rival Flight Sgt. BM Sofekum, finished with a time frame of 1:21:45secs, while another Master Warrant Officer Nwo Onyilo, came third with 1:25:75secs.
For the Officers’ Walkers category, Group Capt. A Idris, won with 1:12mins, Air Cdre BA Sani came second, recording 1:18:20secs, while AVM Idi Lubo, was third with 1:21:51secs.
In the Air Wives Association , two winners emerged, they are Patricia Omaka and Ukindigh Beatrice who finished their walk in 1:3mins and 1:09 minutes respectively.
Olakama, a Youth Corps member, serving at the NAF base was first in the race finishing the 10 Km run in just 43 minutes.
His rival Nwaiwa Andrew came second with 47 minutes, while Onyeogbo Kido was third with 1:52 minutes.
Speaking at the presentation of prizes, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) TAC, AVM Oladayo Amao, charged soldiers to do regular exercises to maintain healthy lifestyles.
Oladayo said such regular fitness exercises enabled them to achieve mental, physical and emotional balance needed to carry out their duties.
“The exercise is meant to keep personnel physically, mentally and emotionally stable to cope with the demands and challenges of defending the country’s territorial borders,” he said.
He also commended the Chief of Air Staff( CAS), Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, for providing the logistics for the event and charged soldiers to take advantage of it to ensure regular exercises to maintain healthy bodies.
According to him, the exercise is in line with the CAS vision to reposition the Airforce to be highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiatives for effective and timely response to national security imperatives.
He said the exercise also provided a platform for sister security agencies to interact and build mutual relationships healthy for the task of defending the country.
He expressed happiness that there was no casualty during the exercise and commended the officers for their professionalism during the exercise. Rector, Army Institute of Technology, Makurdi,
Also, Maj-Gen Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, said physical fitness was central to military operations and charged security personnel to exercise regularly.
“For us in the military, we must be physically and mentally fit to perform our constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and properties as well as fight and defeat external enemies and overcome threats to territorial integrity,” he said.
He commended those who won laurels and urged them to train hard to keep the record, while also encouraging those who never won prizes to strive hard to win in the next edition.

Sports

UCL: Henry Calls For Return Of Away Goals Rule

Published

1 day ago

May 1, 2025

The Tide

Thierry Henry has called for the return of the away goals rule in the aftermath of the bombastic Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona.
The visitors at the Estadio Olimpic Lluis Companys came within milimeters of clinching the first leg of the final-four clash after former Arsenal star Henrikh Mkhitaryan netted late in the second-half.
But the linesman was quick to raise his flag, and semi-automated offside ruled out what would have been a thrilling conclusion to the high-octane 3-3 draw.
The hosts came from behind twice to share the spoils, chasing Inter Milan from the first minute of the game after Marcus Thuram stunned the Barcelona faithful into silence with his neatly flicked goal.
Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead 20 minutes later, but it took just three more for the Blaugrana to finally get on the scoresheet courtesy of a moment of magic from teenage starlet Lamine Yamal.
Ferran Torres drew Barcelona level ahead of the break, but Lamal was forced to play catch-up again in the second-half after Dumfries scored his second.
In light of the impressive effort from Inter, Henry wondered if the team should have got more from the fixture ahead of the second-leg at the San Siro.
‘I know it’s been like that for a very time, and we have to accept it,’ Henry said of the removal of the away goals rule, ‘But off air I was talking to Jamie (Carragher), and I was like, “how can you score three goals away from home and you don’t have an advantage?”
‘Away goals for me were massive, you score three goals away and you still don’t have an advantage 0-0 at home,’ Henry shrugged.
UEFA took the decision to scrap the rule which gave goals scored away from home the ability to act as a tiebreaker in the case of level scorelines ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Current FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger claimed during his time as Arsenal manager in 2015 that the away goals rule ‘encouraged the team at home not to attack’ and that ‘the weight of the away goal (was) too big today’.
Without the rules, the tie at San Siro will go to extra time and penalties to decide which teams books their spot in the Champions League final.
But based on Wednesday evening’s performance, Henry seemed to give Inter a fighting chance against the newly minted Copa del Rey champions.

Sports

London Marathon Breaks World Record

Published

1 day ago

May 1, 2025

The Tide

The 2025 London Marathon set a new world record for the number of finishers despite hot conditions on Sunday for its 45th edition.
A total of 56,640 runners crossed the finish line at the end of the 26.2-mile route, Guinness World Records has confirmed.
The number surpassed the previous record of 55,646 set by the New York Marathon in November.
Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, said he hoped the high number of finishers inspired people to apply for the 2026 race ballot.
“The London Marathon was already the most popular in terms of ballot entries, with 840,318 people applying for the 2025 race,” he said.
“It is also the world’s largest annual one-day fundraising event with more than £1.3bn raised for charity since 1981.”
The number of people applying for the ballot to enter this year’s race broke the world record of 578,304 for the 2024 edition.
Of UK applicants 49% were female, while there was a 105% increase in applications from people aged between 20-29.
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa surged to victory in the elite women’s race in a world record for a women’s only field, while Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe triumphed in the men’s event.

Sports

Arsenal Eye Special Performance In Paris

Published

1 day ago

May 1, 2025

The Tide

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has said that his side will have to do something special in Paris if they are to reach the Champions League final following defeat in their semi-final first leg.
Ousmane Dembele’s early strike at the Emirates leaves the Gunners needing to overturn a one-goal deficit against Paris St-Germain in the second leg at the Parc des Princes next week.
It was an ultimately frustrating night for Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, who failed to convert any of their five shots on target.
“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special. We’re going to have to do something special in Paris to be there,” Arteta said.
PSG dominated the opening 20 minutes of the match and, while the hosts grew into the game, they continued to be frustrated by the French side’s solid defence, failing to score in a home Champions League match for the first time since February 2016.
“We have a lot of chances to be in that final. As I repeat myself, you have to do something special in the competition to have the right to be in the final. And the time to do it is going to be in Paris,” said Arteta.
Arsenal have not reached the final since 2005-06 while PSG are hunting a first Champions League trophy.
As they did against Liverpool and Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, Luis Enrique’s side relied on Italian keeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep them out of trouble.
The 26-year-old kept a clean sheet and made five saves – including important stops to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in one-on-one situations.
“At the end, we have two of our front players one v one with Donnarumma. If they scored the goal it is different. He made the saves, like he did against Liverpool and Villa, and that’s the difference in the Champions League,” Arteta said.
But Enrique says the shot-stopper was just doing his job.
“That’s the work of a goalkeeper, no? Save the team, they work every day for that. In a semi-final, you need all the players,” the Spaniard said.