Sports
CAF Cancels Under-17 AFCON
Just five days before it was due to start in Morocco, the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled.
The decision was taken by an Emergency Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Monday in Morocco.
“The Committee was made aware of the constraints faced by some of the participating member associations as well as the host country,” a statement from CAF said.
“That includes the fact that the Coronavirus pandemic continues to present significant challenges for the organisation of international sporting events.
“Taking into account the cancellation by FIFA of the Under-17 World Cup for which the U-17 Nations Cup was no longer qualifying, the Committee further noted:
The resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic
Increased restrictions on international travel
Uncertainty about the evolution of the situation
“For all these reasons, the Committee decided to cancel the 2021 edition of the Total Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations.”
Some of the 11 teams that had qualified to join hosts Morocco at the tournament had already arrived in the country to prepare including Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia Senegal and Ivory Coast.
The Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations ended in neighbouring Mauritania on Saturday with Ghana emerging as champions.
Meanwhile, Patrice Motsepe will become the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) later this week after Ahmad’s five-year ban was reduced to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday.
The path for billionaire Motsepe to become the first South African to run CAF has been entirely cleared after three of his rivals, Jacques Anouma, Augustin Senghor and Ahmed Yahya, withdrew their candidacies over the weekend.
The final obstacle to the 59-year-old’s coronation on Friday was a potential comeback by recent CAF President Ahmad, who had needed to entirely overturn his ban to be able to contest the elections.
The 61-year-old from Madagascar failed to do this, even if he did succeed in more than halving his sanction and seeing his fine reduced from just over $200,000 to a little over $50,000.
While he was cleared of any wrongdoing in the arrangements concerning CAF’s business dealings with French company, Tactical Steel, Ahmad was still found to have breached three other FIFA ethics rules.
Sports
NPFL: 3SC End Winless Run …As Insurance Settle For Draw
Coach Gbenga Ogunbote and 3SC can heave a sigh of relief after ending their four-game winless run in the 2022/23 Nigeria Professional Football League with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Plateau United in Ibadan on Wednesday, Tidesports source reports.
The Oluyole Warriors have struggled to get results at home this season, and they found themselves behind after 29 minutes against their visitors in the match-day 11 encounter.
Samuel Ayanrinde, however, stepped up for Ogunbote’s side again, equalising before halftime, before putting them ahead minutes into the second half.
Defender Ghali Falke added the third for 3SC in the 59th minute, but there was still enough time for Plateau United to pull one back as the game ended 3-2. The result saw Plateau United drop to fourth on the table while 3SC moved up to seventh.
Meanwhile, there will be no change in the top-two as Group A leaders Bendel Insurance were also forced to a 1-1 draw by second-place Akwa United in Benin City.
In-form striker Osarenkhoe Imade was in the right place at the right time to poke home the lead for the Benin Arsenal and his eighth goal of the season inside two minutes, but the Promise Keepers levelled matters on the half hour mark through Cyril Olisema.
Elsewhere in Aba, Enyimba failed to close the gap on the top two teams as they dropped points at home for the second game running in their 1-1 draw against Nasarawa United.
League top scorer Emeka Obioma found the back of the net from the spot again to give Enyimba the lead and take his tally to nine, but the Elephants were undone by an Emmanuel Ogbole’s 76th minute equaliser. They, however, managed to leapfrog into third place, thanks to 3SC’s defeat of Plateau United in Ibadan.
Sports
NDSS Holds Inter-House Sports Competition …As Green House Emerge Winners
Director of Niger Delta Science School, Rumuola Port Harcourt, Emmanuel Egbuchiem has stated that the essence of organising an Inter-House Sports competition among students was not basically about winning laurels but to ensure that students develop the spirit of sportsmanship that will help them excel in all their endeavors.
Mr. Egbuchiem who made this remark at the 23rd Annual Inter-House Sports Athletic Competition of NDSS held recently at Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Football field firstly thanked God for his mercy towards making the hosting of the Inter-House Sports Competition a recently despite the prevailing situation in the country, especially the challenge posed by the Naira design and the ongoing general election exercise.
Though, this years edition of the competition was held on a low key as a result of the liquidity of cash in the country, nevertheless, I must not fail to express my profound thanks to the Rector Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Rumuola Dr. Sam Kalagbor for his approval and willingness at all time in supporting the NDSS in all her endeavours to host the competition which according to him was not easy to organize.
The School Director also commend parents for their untiringly efforts and sacrifices made to ensure that their children continued to attend the NDSS consistently even in the face of the current financial difficulties, not minding other skeptics and discouraging words from the mischievous ones in the society.
While commending the students of NDSS for being punctual in school irrespective of the long distance they covered in trekking down to the college, the Director equally reminded all the participants in the competition that what is paramount in the competition is the zeal and energy each of them put in the practice
On his part, the Chairman of the occasion Dr. Bobo Moses noted that it was not a contestable fact that the inter-house athletic sports being parts of the sporting activities organised every year in schools will not only help to bring the students together to work as a team but will also help to enhance their mental development to excel in their endeavours in life.
Sports
Eguma Pledges To Work On Players Fitness
The Technical Manager of Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt, Stanley Eguma has said that he will work on the players fatigue before next League game.
He stated that fatigue adversely affected his players performance in the Nigeria Professional Football League, (NPFL) particularly the game against Abia Warriors in the match day 10 last Sunday.
Eguma said this on Sunday in a chat with Sports journalists shortly after his side forced the visitors to one all draw in the NPFL at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
He described the game as a difficult one but expressed joy for securing draw at the end of the day.
“ It is a game of football. It was a fair game but it was a difficult one for us.
“We missed a lot of chances in the first half but I thank God we were able to secure a draw.
“ We have managed the fatigue in the team, you can see the result of today’s game but we are going to improve on our games subsequently.
“ We will go back to the drawing board and see what we can do in our next outing.
“ You can never tell today’s result was very difficult but we are going to plan to improve in other games”, Eguma said.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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