Sports

Atletico Madrid, Bilbao In All Spainish Europa Cup Final

Published

14 years ago

May 8, 2012

Fernando Llorente will hold the key for Spanish side Athletic Bilbao when they meet Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

While much of the focus this season has been on Barcelona and Real Madrid’s utter dominance of La Liga, both Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao (10th in La Liga) and Diego Simeone’s Atletico (fifth) have the chance to savour their own taste of European glory at the National Arena in Bucharest.

Athletic, who only field players from the Basque region, have impressed under eccentric Argentine Bielsa this season with their fluid possession-based style likened to that of Barcelona’s.

Key to their set-up is Llorente, who has netted 17 goals in La Liga, 10 of which have come from headers, and he has a further seven in the Europa League.

That could be the key given Atletico have struggled to deal with set pieces at times this season, most recently against Valencia in their semi-final where two goals came from corners.

Simeone knows of Bilbao’s threat at breaking forward and said that would be an area of focus for his side.

“Bilbao are a team who like to go forward, who play very well and they have proved throughout the season they are a very competitive side,” Simeone said.

“Their strength lies in how quickly they look to move the ball once they have regained possession, and their focal point is Llorente.

“We will have to be very careful to deny them spaces.”

Simeone knows Bielsa well having played the latter stages of his international career with Argentina under him from 1998-2004.

“The sides are very evenly matched. I haven’t spoken to Bielsa but I have a great admiration for him,” Simeone admitted during the week.

Atletico’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao will pose a similar threat as Llorente and has had no trouble adjusting to La Liga after his off-season switch from Porto, for whom he scored the winner in last year’s Europe League final.

After being bought for a club record 40 million euros to replace the departing Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, Falcao has not disappointed bagging 23 goals in La Liga to trail only Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, as well 10 in the Europa League.

Simeone is likely to make one enforced change with Gabi set to replace the suspended Tiago, who was sent off in the second leg against Valencia, alongside Mario Suarez in central midfield.

Sports

Rivers-born Chess Player Clinches Third Position At World Amateur Rapid Chess Championship

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

A veteran Rivers State chess player, Apollos Akomaka, has finished in joint 3rd place at the just-concluded World Amateur Rapid Chess Championship held in Abuja.

Akomaka, who is the director of physiotherapy at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, overcame a shaky start to secure a podium finish in the 11-round rapid event that began on August 2.

The tournament featured top chess players from several countries.

After losing his opening game, the defining moment for Akomaka came between Rounds 7 and 11.

He raised his game and began defeating some of the top-ranked players in the event.

The Rivers-born player ended the championship tied for 3rd place in the U2000 category with 6.5 points out of 11, alongside Cameroon’s national champion, Noumbo Vidal.

His final game was against Vidal, with the Nigerian playing the black pieces.

Vidal opened with a queen’s gambit but quickly transposed into an English opening with a double fianchetto attack.

Akomaka responded sharply with a king’s Indian defense and soon launched a kingside attack from a defensive position.

The pressure paid off, resulting in an immediate material gain, a knight for a rook, and leaving Akomaka with a strong attacking advantage.

Vidal fought hard to avoid mate and managed to steer the game into an endgame, where he found some respect. At that point, the Cameroon champion offered a draw, which Akomaka accepted.

Speaking after the event, Akomaka said that he is resilient and determined after the poor start but happy that he finished on the podium.

He expressed optimism that in subsequent competitions he will make Rivers State proud and Nigeria at large.

Akomaka has won both local and national chess championships in recent times.

He is passionate about chess; besides, he has equally sponsored several national chess tournaments in Nigeria.

The World Amateur Rapid Chess Championship concluded with Akomaka of Rivers State,

Nigeria, battling back from an early loss to end among the top three in his category

Tonye Orabere/Kiadum Edookor

Sports

Team Nigeria Secures Women’s 4x100m, 4x400m Finals at World U20 Championships

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

Team Nigeria continued its impressive showing at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, securing places in both the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay finals after strong performances in the heats.

The Nigerian quartet of Becky Ebiyadi, Jecinta Lawrence, Tejiri Praise Ugoh and Faith Ezechukwu booked their place in the women’s 4x400m final after clocking a season’s best of 3:35.28.

Nigeria finished third in the heat behind Italy and Great Britain, doing enough to advance to the final and remain firmly in contention for a medal.

In the women’s 4x100m, Ugoh joined Lucy Nwankwo, Chigozie Nwankwo and Oluebube Ezechukwu as Nigeria produced another season’s best, clocking 43.65 seconds to secure an automatic ticket to the women’s 4x100m final.

The qualification was sealed by a sensational anchor leg from Ezechukwu. Receiving the baton nearly 20 metres behind the United States, the Nigerian launched a determined charge down the home straight, rapidly closing the gap before edging the Americans at the line to claim the third automatic qualifying position.

Nigeria stopped the clock at 43.65 seconds, just 0.02 seconds ahead of the United States, who finished in 43.67 seconds.

The performances mean Nigeria will now contest both women’s relay finals, further strengthening the country’s medal prospects at the championships.

In Saturday’s evening phase of the event, Success Uyibo will compete in the 200m women’s final while the 4x100m compete in the women’s final.

Sports

Poor welfare forced me to dump Delta for Enugu, says world – Nwachukwu

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

World Record holder and Commonwealth Games champion, Goodness Nwachukwu, has revealed why she dumped Delta State for Enugu State.

The sudden departure of Nwachukwu, a multiple gold medallist, from Team Delta to the Coal City, Enugu , sparked controversy within the sports family, with officials of Delta State Sports Commission accusing the president of the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria, Sunday Odebode, of manipulating the system for the athlete to dump the state.

But Nwachukwu, who broke the World Record to win a gold medal for Team Nigeria in the Women’s Discus F42 event at the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, has cleared the air on the circumstances that led to her movement to Enugu State.

Speaking with The Tidesports source report, shortly after winning the gold medal, Nwachukwu said: “It is not true that anybody aided my movement from Delta State to Enugu. Rather, it was Delta State that forced me to leave because of poor remuneration.