Sports
17-Year-Old Athlete Jostles For Commonwealth Games Ticket
Teenage sensation, Sunday Akintan, 17, is among athletes in Abuja from different parts of the country to jostle for inclusion in the country’s squad to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games scheduled for July and August.
The competition in Abuja is the third and final leg of the All Comers competition, which involves the country’s best athletes. The All Comers competition began at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin in March, moved to Yaba College of Technology Sports Ground, Lagos, last month and is now making its final stop in Abuja.
While the competition in Lagos was used as the final window for home-based athletes to secure the qualification standard for the 22nd African Senior Athletics Championships scheduled to hold in Mauritius in June, the Abuja event will serve as the final chance for the athletes to secure places in the AFN Classics scheduled to hold in Benin in a fortnight.
According to AFN Secretary General, Adeniyi Beyioku, the event in Abuja will begin today and end tomorrow. The AFN scribe told The Tidesport in a telephone chat yesterday that majority of the athletes have settled down in their various hotels in Abuja.
AFN Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, said the All Comers competition was designed to give athletes the competition they need to aid their preparations for major athletics championships and games this summer. “The AFN is happy with the performances of some of the athletes as they prepare for the major events ahead, starting with the African championships in Mauritius next month. Our team to the championships will be dominated by home-based athletes and the federation is happy to always get them ready in terms of competitions,” he stated.
Onikeku said, from the competition and others organised by coaches in some states across Nigeria, the athletes have continued to impress. “It is heartwarming to note that a number of our junior athletes have been churning out personal best performances since the start of the season.
“For example, Sunday Akintan, a 17-year-old has jumped from a 10.65 seconds runner just a little over a year ago to run a 10.23 seconds lifetime best. Same as 19-year- old Ogheneovo Nicholas Mabilo, who ran 10.24seconds at the first edition of the AFN All Comers in Benin in March.
“Another teenager, Konyasila Ajayi, improved from a 10.92 seconds personal best to run 10.26 seconds at the Yaba College of Technology sports ground last month, while Gracious Junior Ushie, a 20-year-old also ran a new 10.25 seconds personal best last month in Ilaro.
“Prosper Oghenemine Ekporore’s 13.71s performance in the 110m hurdles in Lagos last month is the fastest any Nigerian man has run since Oyeniyi Abejoye ran 13.69 seconds in June 2019. Abejoye himself was second in the race in Lagos with a 13.72 seconds performance.”
The AFN technical director is also impressed with the women sprinters, including Praise Ofoku, the 100m finalist at the World U-20 championships in Nairobi, Kenya, last year, who ran a new 11.49 seconds personal best in Benin two months ago.
“There is also the story of 16-year-old Rejoice Sule Hadijat, who broke 12 seconds for the first time in her career by running a huge 11.66 seconds personal best in Ijebu Ode three months ago.
“The future of track and field is very bright in Nigeria and with what our athletes are doing in the colleges in America, the AFN is confident Nigeria is on the path to restoring and surpassing her lost glory,” Onikeku said.
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.