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Motorsport To Contribute To Nigeria’s GDP – President

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President of Motorsport Club of Nigeria, Oduwa Okao says the game has the potential to contribute a lot to the nation Gross Domestic Product (GDP), if fully harnessed.
Okao made the assertion in an interview with newsmen in Benin, yesterday.
He spoke on the forthcoming Motorsport race, tagged “Easter Motorsport Festival” which will hold at Evbuobanosa, near Benin City, from April 19 to April 21.
He noted that Motorsport race had contributed a lot to the economy of the UK, USA and Austria, but had yet to be given any serious thought in Nigeria.
According to him, the potential of the sports spread across boosting of tourism, employment generation, technological development, sporting events as well as knowledge transfer.
“This sport needs to be given serious attention by government, private individuals as well as corporate organisations for its potentials to be brought to bear on the economy of the country.
“It is a sport whose multiplier effect transcended mere promotion of tourism; a huge employment opportunity can be generated through the sport.
“Aside the aspect of employment generation, knowledge transfer and local technology development are part of the benefits derivable from the sport.
“The sport would help the country diversify and would be less dependent on oil,” he said.
Okao said it was time the country gave the sport its pride of place and put Nigeria in the global Motorsport family.
He said the club was trying to professionalise the sport so that those involved drivers, riders and mechanics will start earning a living from it.
On this year’s annual Easter Motorsport Festival which is 8th in its series, Okao said the event would be in series and the grand finale would be on November 30.
“We usually have six races in a year and the Easter event is the first of the series; this will be followed by races in August while the final race is on November 30, when the championship will be decided.
“All this will take place at Evbuobanosa, near Benin City, where we have built the first motor race track in the country,” he said.
The president of the club however, lamented the lack of sponsorship of the event, saying that it had slowed the progress of the sport in the country.

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New Coach Promises Trophies At Barça

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Hansi Flick has said that Barcelona’s desire to always win trophies is why he is at the cub during his official unveiling as the club’s new head coach.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany coach signed a two-year deal with the LaLiga giants and said: “Before signing my contract I had a dinner with the president and I felt from the first second that I was arriving at an impressive club.”
“The squad has worked very hard from the first day in training. Each player wants to give 100% to show that they can play. The quality of the 16 or 17 year olds from La Masia is incredible.”
Two of the most recent standout products from Barça’s fabled academy are Lamine Yamal and Ansu Fati, two players who find themselves in very different situations.
On his 17-year-old star man, Flick was complimentary but also had words of warning.
“In the last year he has improved a lot. What he did in the Euros was incredible,” he added.

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Chelsea Will Concede Goals This Season – Coach

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Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca says his side “are going to concede goals this season playing out from the back” after two defensive errors in a 2-2 draw with Wrexham in his first game in charge.
Midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu scored an 82nd-minute equaliser in Santa Clara, California, cancelling out two second-half strikes by the League One side.
A sharp finish in the penalty box from Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring in the 35th minute of Chelsea’s opening friendly on their pre-season tour of the United States.
But Wrexham took a surprise lead after both teams made wholesale changes at half-time with Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott scoring following mistakes.
The defensive errors were part of a weak second-half performance as Chelsea adapt to Maresca’s possession-based approach.
Wrexham impressed – adding to their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Saturday in a half-empty Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
It is the Welsh club’s second consecutive US pre-season tour, capitalising on their popularity under co-owners, Hollywood actors, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, with Phil Parkinson’s side preparing for third tier football for the first time since 2005.
Maresca was asked about conceding goals through his playing philosophy, which included more patient build-up from back to front.

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France’s Olympics Come Alive With Les Bleus Victory

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The French starting 11 was worth more than $250 million. Their home crowd was stirring, waving flags, chanting “Allez Les Bleus.” Their fearsome front three alone had played more than 300 games in the English Premier League. They entered these 2024 Olympics as the men’s soccer gold medal favourite, and an early candidate to bring the Games to life.
And on Wednesday in Marseille, they did just that, beating the United States 3-0.
For an hour in Marseille, on opening night, a feisty American team stood up to them.
But in the 61st minute of Paris 2024’s first prime-time headliner, Alexandre Lacazette struck, and the Stade Vélodrome erupted. Kids kissed the French Football Federation badges on their shirts. Thousands of blue, white and red flags twirled.
Until that moment, the game had been somewhat dormant. And the Games, more broadly, were still waiting to awake. In Paris, many locals have escaped the craziness of the Olympics. Areas around the River Seine are all but locked down to prepare for today’s opening ceremony. Tuesday and Wednesday, in some ways, felt like normal Parisian nights, sans buzz.
The best cure for all of that was France’s most popular sport, the one that led the media’s front pages on Tuesday in a non-Olympic context, just three days before the official start of the Olympics.
This, of course, was not a full French soccer team. The Games are a mostly under-23 tournament. But it was still a French soccer team. And it was, by Olympic men’s soccer’s JV standards, stacked.
It came from Bayern Munich and Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Crystal Palace, in the German Bundesliga and throughout France’s Ligue 1. There were players valued at 25 million euros stuck on the bench. There were athletes all over the field whom, unlike many Olympians, the French public knows.
And the two biggest stars among them ignited the public. Lacazette, a veteran striker, one of three over-age picks, broke through the United States resistance.
Michael Olise, a 22-year-old creator who recently signed with Bayern, scored the second.

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