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AFN Targets New Talents As Okowa Awards Scholarships

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Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President, Tonobok Okowa, says the sixth National Youth Games holding in Ilorin will serve as fresh talent recruitment ground for the federation.
Defending champions, Team Delta, arrived Ilorin with a contingent of over 750 athletes and officials.
Okowa, who is the chairman of Delta State Sport’s Commission, told Newsmen that the athletes were ready to defend their title.
A praise and worship session was held for the team on Saturday evening at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, where the Secretary to the state government, Patrick Ukah, who represented Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, urged the athletes to do everything possible to defend their title.
He said: “As soon as athletics event starts, I will shift my attention to track and field because the AFN will use the National Youth Games to recruit athletes who will step into the shoes of some ageing ones. As for Team Delta, we have worked very hard for these games, and I am sure we will emerge victorious again. The state government has given us the support we need, and we are very grateful to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the entire executive council.”
Okowa revealed that 11 of the young athletes discovered at the 2019 edition of the National Youth Games were given academic scholarship by the state government to combine their education with sports in the United States last year, adding that four others have just joined them.
He said, “when we discover young athletes, we keep them and nurture them,” Okowa stated.
Meanwhile, organisers of the youth games have assured participants of a hitch-free event, saying the minor hitches recorded on the opening day have been taken care of.
Team Edo contingent, yesterday, complained that they were left outside the hostels provided for the teams, adding that there were no official to attend to them.
Team Edo leader, Sabina Amiemenoghena Chikere, said she had to make alternative private hostel accommodation for the women athletes and questioned why the LOC will fix a tournament of this magnitude when students of the University of Ilorin were still writing their examinations.
However, an official of the LOC, who pleaded anonymity, said that the hiccup experienced by Edo is a minute problem that has been sorted out, adding that such problems usually occur on arrival days in multi-sport events.
“Most schools are in session. It makes hostel accommodation for many states difficult. But we have moved the affected states to polytechnic hostels around the state capital. Edo is not the only state affected”, he said.
“We are satisfied with the level of preparedness of University of Ilorin ahead of the competition and members of the Sports Directors’ Forum have also expressed their delight at the arrangements in place for the games.”
Also, the LOC has announced a slight adjustment to the time line of the competition with the opening ceremony initially scheduled for Wednesday now moved to Thursday.

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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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