Sports
AFN Discovers Stars At N YG
The search for new track queens by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) may have yielded results at the sixth National Youth Games in Ilorin.
Athletics events, which started yesterday inside the Unilorin Sports Complex, gave AFN officials cause to celebrate late into the night. Reason: A ‘new Okagbare’ has arrived.
Since the Tokyo Olympics Games in Japan, many Nigerian track and field followers have been disturbed by the sad situation U.S.-based Nigerian sprinter, Blessing Okagbare, has found herself over alleged illegal drugs use.
Okagbare was suspended on the eve of her semifinal race at the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for a human growth hormone following an out-of-competition test on July 19. Many Nigerians, including some officials of the AFN, are afraid Okagbare might not be able to return to track and field at the end of her drugs saga.
At the National Youth Games in Ilorin, yesterday, two young athletes distinguished themselves in the girls 100m event. The duo of Taiye Ayenuro of Team Delta and Stella Oyebode of Kwara gave the spectators a lot to cheer about.
Their stride, composure, speeds and finishing portrayed the picture of Okagbare in her youthful days.
Some of the coaches, who spoke with The Guardian at the end of 100m race, were delighted by the potential in the girls.
“This is one of the dividends of the Youth Games. In the next two years, these two athletes will mature to occupy vacant positions. The AFN is already planning how to position them and others athletes discovered here for the future.”
Meanwhile, Team Delta extended its leadership on the medals table to 38 gold yesterday.
The state grabbed the first gold medal in girls’ long jump event, where Djoma Fejiro Praise scaled 5.61m to beat her challengers from the FCT and Ondo State, who settled for silver and bronze medals respectively.
Team Delta also defeated Team Lagos in volleyball 25-21, 21-25, 25-9, 25-18 to win Gold medal yesterday. It also won gold in girls’ hockey and silver in the boys’ category. The state had ended Day three with 32 gold medals on Saturday with Edo State in second position with just eight gold. Plateau State has won two medals in the golf event.
Despite the psychological trauma they went through having been wrongfully screened out as being the over age limit before they won their appeal, the duo of Nantap Danat and Deborah Dung grabbed a silver medal in the stapleford girls’ team event with a combined score of 22 points.
Ponyayi Danjuma and Otopka Emmanuel also got a silver medal in the stapleford boys’ team event with 52 points.
Also, Team Lagos continued its medals haul yesterday with two more gold medals in Fives and Para Table Tennis.
Tijani Rasaq gave Lagos the gold medal in the boys’ singles Para Table Tennis, while Isaac Blessing won another gold medal in Fives singles event at the expense of Delta State. Lagos also secured a bronze medal in the Fives doubles event.
The pair of Aishat Rabiu and Mathew Kuti won a silver medal in the table tennis mixed doubles, while Balogun Yetunde got a bronze medal in the Para Table Tennis female singles event.
In boxing, Team Lagos’ Opaleye Kehinde won his bout in the 46kg category via a knock out in the second round against Rivers State’s Lucky Edum.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has said that criticism that he and other players chased money by moving to Saudi Arabia is wide of the mark.
The 33-year-old left Chelsea for Al-Ahli in a £16m ($21.4m) deal in 2023, and in May the Africa Cup of Nations winner helped his Saudi club win the Asian Champions League, making him one of the few players to win both that competition and its European equivalent.
But, like many others, Mendy has been criticised for playing for money rather than prestige in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
When asked about such criticism, Mendy told a Tidesports source, “Al-Ahli’s project came along and they made me feel I had a big role to play.
“Two years later, we won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. So yes, that validates my choice. And I hope the coming years will validate it even more.”
He added: “Some people will quickly jump to conclusions and say the only reason is money. From the start, I always said that when I left Chelsea, I knew I was joining another team where I could win everything , which was no longer the case at Chelsea.”
The Blues have since won the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier club competition, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
But it comes after the regime’s trophyless first two years, a period which has frustrated some supporters after the success enjoyed under Roman Abramovich’s stewardship in the previous 19 years.
Mendy has also been celebrating what he describes as a historical win with Senegal against England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but days earlier he had been in Dakar delivering a different kind of win.
He is the sponsor of Yakaar, a school in Keur Massar, which seeks to improve funding and access to digital learning tools for local children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Famously, as Mendy grew up in France, he was unemployed, aged 22, while struggling to find a club, with members of his family still living on the outskirts of Dakar.
That is why Yakaar, a word meaning “hope”, was chosen, a word Mendy has carried with him in his career.
“Hope is what kept me going. When I was without a club, it was the hope of getting that first professional contract.
“Then the hope of playing for the national team. The hope of making my family proud by doing the job I had always dreamed of.
“Indeed, hope is the best word to describe my career.”
Mendy was also asked whether the responsibility of being an African goalkeeper had weighed heavily on him.
“Of course. When I was in England, there weren’t many African goalkeepers in top clubs,” he admitted.
“Whether nationally or internationally, I had that responsibility. It’s the same for other African goalkeepers like Andre Onana [Manchester United] or Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal).”
The entire refereeing committee has been fired by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with structural reforms soon set to follow.
According to sources, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed the entire refereeing committee in response to mounting pressure from clubs demanding structural reform. A major shake-up aimed at modernising Spanish refereeing from top to bottom has now been set in motion.
Head of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo and Head of VAR, Carlos Clos Gomez, have been removed from their positions. They are joined by several senior officials, including Antonio Rubinos Perez and three vice presidents, who are also stepping down. A new leadership model will be introduced, led by a CEO and a sporting director, aiming to overhaul how refereeing is managed covering assessments, promotions, and daily operations. While the leadership changes are sweeping, the current pool of referees in La Liga and the second tier will remain, ensuring continuity on the field during the transition.
Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday.
The Portugal captain, 40, joined the Riyadh-based team in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances, having criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed.
In a post on X, Ronaldo wrote: “A new chapter begins. Same passion, same dream. Let’s make history together.”
Although Al-Nassr have not added to their nine domestic titles during Ronaldo’s time at the club, they have benefited from a flood of goals from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Ronaldo scored 35 times in 41 matches across all competitions last term and was the league’s top scorer for a second consecutive season.
He has managed 99 goals in appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country.
Having helped Portugal win the Uefa Nations League a little over two weeks ago, the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Sporting and Juventus forward will almost certainly now be targeting a sixth World Cup appearance next summer.
Only a month ago, Ronaldo posted on social media to say “the chapter is over”.
That came after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up with Al-Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.
The comment fuelled rumours that Ronaldo was ready to leave the league where he reportedly became the best-paid player in football history with an annual salary of £177m when he joined.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino raised the prospect of Ronaldo joining a team involved in the Club World Cup after Al-Nassr failed to qualify for the extended tournament which is being held in the United States.
Ronaldo said he had received offers from participating teams but had turned them down.
The decision to stay until at least 2027, which is certain to be highly lucrative, appears to rule out any future prospect of Ronaldo returning to play at the highest level in Europe.