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NYG: Team Rivers In Record Medal Haul …Delta, Champions Again

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As the curtain fell on the 6th National Youth Games (NYG) 2021 inside the University of Ilorin Complex, yesterday, Team Rivers emerged overall fifth with a record haul of medals.
Despite targeting a podium finish, the team recorded a total of 33 medals, 11 gold, eight silver and14 bronze medals to record her best performance and medal haul since the inception of the Games in 2013.
The team after a slow start was on line for a podium finish until a combination of late gold rush, particularly, by Lagos and Bayelsa teams and illluck in some medal contests saw them lose ground on the penultimate day of the Games.
However, Team Rivers was in the mix for the medal rush in the final two days as Daniel Mba secured gold in golf’s Ecletics event for boys with a total gross of 74 and Christie Obomanu won silver in match play for girls. She had won gold the previous day in stroke play with a score of 82 gross.
Basketball also delivered gold as the Fubara Onyenabo tutored boys showed class, dominating their Ebonyi counterparts 21 -12 in the semi final before edging out Bauchi 16-15 in the gold medal match. It was one of the most keenly contested basketball event in the history of the Games.
Tennis provided gold in the mixed event, Shot put, boys, a silver, 4 by 100 m, a bronze and Amarachukwu Ezeakor got silver in Chess.
Added to the basketball gold on the final day were a gold medal in Kung Fu, where Cynthia Phillips subdued her opponent from Nasarawa via Technical Knock Out (TKO).
During the closing ceremony, Rivers further secured silver and bronze in 4 by 400 mixed relay and 200m, boys.
For Team Delta, it was medal blitz from Day 1 to the last day, clinching the first position with a whopping haul of 114 medals, 60 gold, 26 silver and 28 bronze medals.
They were in a blitzing form on the final day, especially, the closing ceremony events, claiming all the four gold medals available in 200m girls, 200m boys, 4 by 100 m mixed relay and 4 by 400 m mixed relay.
Speaking just before the closing ceremony, the leader of Team Rivers delegation and Permanent Secretary of Rivers State Ministry of Sports, Sir Honour Sirawoo described the state’s performance as a tremendous achievement, finishing top five and recording the number of medals they did for the first time.
“The beauty of it all is that there’s improvement on performance, judging from previous performances in 2018 and 2019. In sports, what you desire is development and improvement. We have learnt our lessons from this experience and I assure that from next time, based on what we have discovered now, which we’re going to work on, we are definitely going to do better”.
Top 10 on the medal table are Delta with 114 medals, Lagos with 72 medals, Bayelsa with 46 medals, Ogun with 45 medals Edo with 40 medals, FCT with 36 medals, Rivers had 33 medals, the Host state; Kwara grabbed 32 medals, Oyo with 31 medals and Ondo state with 30 medals among every other performing states.

By: Gabriel Nwanetanya

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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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