Category: Sports

President Bola Tinubu has extended best wishes to the Super Falcons of Nigeria as they prepare to face Australia in their second group match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.

Tobi Amusan, the women’s hurdles world record holder, revealed in the early hours of Wednesday that she had been charged with an alleged rule violation for missing three drug tests in the span of 12 months.

Amusan also vowed to resolve the charges against her before this year’s competition, which will be place in Budapest next month.

The 26-year-old Nigerian athlete disclosed this in a post via her Instagram account.

“I am a CLEAN athlete, and I am regularly (maybe more than usual) tested by the AIU,” she wrote, in referencing the Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping issues in international track and is the agency that charged her with the violation.

She said, “Today the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged me with an alleged rule violation for having 3 missed tests in 12 months.

“I intend to fight this charge and will have my case decided by a tribunal of 3 arbitrators before the start of next month’s World Championships.”

According to the AIU, an athlete who misses tests within a period of 12 months is guilty of anti-doping rule violation, and the penalty includes suspension for two years, which may be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault.

Missing three doping tests can result in a two-year ban, though exceptions can be made for different circumstances.

At the World Athletics Championships, in Oregon last year, Amusan stunned a still-arriving crowd by setting the world record with a time of 12.12 seconds in the semifinals of the 100-meter hurdles. She came back about 90 minutes later to win the gold medal in 12.06, but that time did not go into the record books because there was too strong a tailwind.

“When I watched the record, I was like ‘Whoa, who did that?’” Amusan said of her reaction upon seeing her time pop up on the scoreboard.

Channels TV

Nigerian world record holder Tobi Amusan overcame a slow start to claim victory in the 100m hurdles event at the Silesia Diamond League in Poland, sprinting to a season’s best of 12.34s that equalled the meeting record in Chorzow, Poland.

Amusan edged USA’s Kendra Harrison, who finished second in a time of 12.35s, while 2019 world champion Nia Ali of the USA finished third in 12.38s.

The Commonwealth Gold Medalist produced a strong finish to win the highly competitive women’s 100m hurdles ahead of her rivals for next month’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

She said it was not an easy race as she is battling injuries in her hamstring and knee.

In a Facebook post on Sunday evening, the world record holder basked in her new victory.

“One race at a time, my coach has always told me that, and I’m happy to have finished here with another season’s best and the meeting record,” she said.

“All Glory to God and a big shout out (to) my coach and my entire team as well as my ever-supportive fans.”

On July 28, 2023 Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, will confer awards, gifts and other incentives to members of Team Nigeria’s squad to the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games and the 1980 AFCON winners, to keep their memory alive and also encourage young Nigerians who may represent the country in similar events tomorrow.

During the Montreal Olympics in 1976, mostly African countries, including Nigeria, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations’ calls for a sporting embargo, which caused a massive reorganisation of scheduled events.

However, it was a tough decision for Nigerian athletes, when the then military Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, ordered the Nigerian athletes to boycott the Games and return home, eight days after they had arrived Montreal.

According to Chief Segun Odegbami, who is playing significant role in making this event possible, the athletes were in top shape and posted fine outings that assured fans back home of a medal swoop in Canada. Long jumper Charlton Ehizuelen held the world lead going into the event, while the Nigerian football team, which had the likes of Segun Odegbami, Joe Erico, Christian Chukwu and others, had beaten hosts Canada 3-0 in a preparatory match ahead of the global sports fiesta.

On what motivated him to extend his benevolence to otherwise forgotten sports heroes who sacrificed invaluable opportunities to head the call of fatherland, the Air Peace Chairman said he decided to do it for the love of his country, Nigeria, stressing that those who made the sacrifice for the country deserved to be rewarded.

“We are talking about Nigerians who have given their all to the nation. We are talking about Nigerians who have made us proud in the years past. We are talking about Nigerians who have been forgotten by their nation. Is that how to build a country? You make promises to them and you don’t fulfill it. We are talking about Nigerians who in their prime had everything going for them, would have been able to use Olympics of 1976 as a stepping stone to achieve a life of success for themselves and their families. They arrived Montreal and the nation beckoned on them to jettison the game as protest against apartheid in South Africa , to jettison their opportunities. How many people will do that now? Those Nigerians are our heroes. To jettison the opportunities that were staring them in the face, come back home because of a cause the government at that time was pursuing,” he said.

Onyema recalled that there was apartheid in South Africa and Nigeria was in the forefront as a frontline state trying to end the apartheid.

“These Nigeria athletes and others had arrived Montreal, settled in their hotel rooms, preparing for the opening ceremony the next morning. And a call came that Nigeria had boycotted the event. These athletes, in absolute show of respect for their nation, packed their bags and baggage, entered the next plane and came home, fighting for a cause. How many people will do that today? Because those who did it before were not honoured. How many people will obey such calls? If you give such directive now, nobody will listen to you. Those athletes would have disobeyed the country and remained in Montreal to participate in the Olympics if you give such directive today. This is because those who did it then were not really honoured by their nation. Forgetting that you have already destroyed their youth. Some of them would have gotten into professional sport to make their livelihood. Some of them have already died in penury. The ones that are alive, nobody even know of them. These are the people I discussed with Chief Odegbami, that we cannot continue to talk about Nigeria without them.

“Everybody cannot be governor, everybody cannot be a senator, everybody cannot be a president. Where we find ourselves, we should contribute to nation building. So, when I saw Odegbami, I said how about those people? Why not we honour them, make them feel wanted in their nation. How about those who won the African Cup of Nations for the first time for our country in 1980? Some of them, if you see them, you wont believe what you are seeing. Such national heroes, no country forgets such heroes. What they did in 1980 brought the country together. I still remember as a kid in those days seeing president Shehu Shagari at the national stadium waving in support of our players. He was in the crowd there when it happened, and the country became one. Anything anybody could do to make this country great, to live a kind of life that will transcend our ethnicity and religion, I will encourage it and everybody should encourage it and that is why I think that honouring those Nigerians who sacrificed staring opportunities for the sake of country, for the love of nation, and came back from that Montreal Olympic games without participating, in honour of the call that came then should be appreciated.

“We have to honour those people. We have to bring them back and make them proud of what they did for the nation. We have to use them to encourage the youths of today, that your sacrifices and actions towards nationhood or nation building, will never ever be forgotten. We want to start today so that government will emulate what we are going to do on July 28, so that Nigerians will start having hope in the nation. Those of them who won the first African Cup of Nations are part of the group we are going to honour. A wall of fame I am sure has already been built. We promised that we will build a hall of fame where their names will be written in gold at the NIIA (Nigeria Institute of International Affairs). As I speak to you that wall of fame is up now, by July 28, it will be unveiled with their names there and on the night of 28 July they will all be honoured. Whatever we are going to offer them is not the end of the game, other corporate bodies are being enjoined to come on and see what they could do to those people and their families. What they did is unbelievable.

“On that day we are going to offer them some financial rewards. Air Peace will do that. Air Peace will also make sure that those of them that are still alive, have free tickets for the rest of their life time, flying Air Peace domestically. They will have 12 return tickets every year. So that means every month they are flying on Air Peace free of charge. At the same time, Air Peace will give them one international free ticket to any of the countries we are flying free,” Onyema said.

This Day

World record holder, Oluwatobilola Amusan, yesterday in Stockholm, showed why she is still the woman to beat in the 100m hurdles, when she ran a time of 12.52 seconds to win the Swedish leg of the Diamond League.

Amusan’s time was lower than what she returned on Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she made 12.45 seconds to finish second behind Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who ran a meet record of 12.40 seconds.

Relatively little known Nigeria’s Emmanuel Bamidele was also in fine form, as he won the silver medal in the 400m in 45.48 seconds behind South Africa’s Zakhiti Nene, who won the gold in 45.30 seconds.

However, it was not so smooth for World Championships’ silver medallist, Ese Brume, who could only finish fifth in the women long jump.

Meanwhile, Amusan, Brume, Emmanuel and other Nigerian athletes competing in the Diamond League are expected in Benin today to compete in the Athletics Federation of Nigeria’ (AFN) national trials, which is the qualifier for this year’s World Athletics Championships billed to hold in Budapest, Hungary.

Already, seven foreign-based stars are among the over 160 athletes expected at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium from July 5 to 7 to battle for tickets to Budapest.

Although the AFN has set tomorrow as arrival date, some of the foreign-based stars arrived in Benin City yesterday.

“The security personnel at the Samuel Ogbemudia are having tough time controlling the large turnout of the fans. They want to watch the foreign-based athletes in training,” an AFN official, who is in the advanced team to Edo State revealed yesterday.

“I am sure the crowd will be more this year compared to what we had last year because of the superlative performance by Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume at the last edition of the World championships in Oregon, United States,” the official added.

Last year, the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium was the venue for the national trials, where athletes for both the World Championships in Oregon, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, were picked.

The chairman of the organising committee, Yusuf Alli, has assured that the government and people of Edo State will give the visiting athletes and officials the best treatment throughout their stay in Benin City.

Alli, who is the chairman of Edo State Sports Commission, and whose Long Jump record set in 1989 in Lagos still stands till date, also assured, yesterday, that there would be side attractions like cultural dance to entertain the fans.

“Apart from being the best Sporting State in Nigeria, Edo State is also the home of culture and entertainment. All these will be on display throughout the National Trials,” Alli stated.

Expected to be the big attractions at the trials are Amusan, Brume, Favour Ofili, Ezekiel, Nnamdi Prosper, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Ruth Usoro, Chioma Onyekwere, Godson Brume, Udodi Onwuzurike, Samuel Ogazi and veter an Patience Okon-George.

Guardian

The 2022/23 Champions League season was arguably one of the most prolific tournament campaigns ever, producing 372 goals in 125 matches at an average of 2.98 per game.

It means the European heavy hitters were able to hit the back of the net every 30 minutes on average, showing why many people consider it the most exciting competition in the world.

Not all goals were spectacular, but some will go a long way in the history books, with Rodri’s title-winning strike at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium headlining the list.

As revealed by the official release, we have the best goal of the 2022/23 Champions League season, but was it really the right choice?

From a shortlist of ten goals, another vintage Lionel Messi finish against Benfica in the group phase pipped the likes of Vinicius Junior and Erling Braut Haaland to the award.

Paris Saint-Germain’s ‘MNM’ trio combined to break down the Eagles’ rearguard, with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar exchanging a quick passage of play, only for the Argentine to finish off with aplomb.

But what about Kevin De Bruyne’s screamer against Real Madrid in the semi-finals? You won’t see a cleaner hit than that anytime soon, not to mention it came against the best goalkeeper in the competition, Thibaut Courtois.

Not only did the Belgian’s long-range thunderbolt help Man City avoid heading into the second leg without a deficit, but it was a true state-of-art.

Or the Haaland Airways? In a proper ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ manner, the Norwegian flew over his markers to catch a mesmerising outside-of-the-boot cross from Joao Cancelo in mid-air to unlock Borussia Dortmund’s defence.

And the list goes on. Ajax prodigy Mohammed Kudus slalomed past three Rangers players before slotting home with a thumping strike from an acute angle early in the group stages.

His strike didn’t even make the top ten.

If Messi’s goal against Benfica was a piece of magic, and no one’s saying it wasn’t, where does that put Rodri’s outrageous deadlock-breaker against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals?

The Spaniard’s quick feet saw him get rid of his man in the blink of an eye before unleashing a devastating effort from a distance with a weaker left foot into the top corner.

In the end, Messi won the award in his last Champions League season, and it’s hard to think of a better man to pick up this flattering prize.

One Football

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a friendly match before leaving a storied European career to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami as a free agent.

This is the Argentina captain’s seventh visit to China and his first since 2017.

His arrival was announced in a post on the organizer International Football Invitation’s official Weibo social media site with a video of players stepping off a plane, ahead of Thursday’s Argentina-Australia match in the Chinese capital’s recently rebuilt Workers’ Stadium.

Messi, who lifted the World Cup in Qatar in December and is widely considered to be one of the game’s all-time greats, confirmed this week he will leave French champions Paris St Germain for the U.S. league.

Victor Osimhen is excited by Napoli’s Serie A title success this term, saying the feat humbles him.

The Nigerian scored 26 league goals this season helping his side win their first title in 33 years. Osimhen’s exploits also earned him the top scorer prize in the Serie A, the first African to do so.

Hours after Napoli’s last game of the season which they won 2-0, the Nigerian took to his social media platform to hail the fans and team for a successful campaign.

“Not only that, I emerged as the best striker of the Serie A 2022-2023 season, which makes me the first African player ever to win the golden boot in the league history and the first player to combine this achievement with the Scudetto since 2009. This gives me so much joy and I am incredibly humbled to have achieved these.

“To my fans worldwide, I see you all! The support, the motivation, and the love, I am super grateful. You all have always honoured me and I am proud to be a Nigerian. Thank You For The Unforgettable Journey. God Is The Greatest 🇳🇬💙🇮🇹.”

While describing winning the title, he said it is one of the most precious moments in his life.

“This is one of the happiest moments of my Life, We are the SCUDETTO CHAMPIONS!! This achievement fills me with pride and joy, and we couldn’t have done it without the unwavering support of our coaches, and the incredible Napoli fans. This victory belongs to all of us!” he added.

“The journey to this huge victory hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but it’s the ups and downs that have shaped us into the champions we are today! We turned every moment of adversity, setbacks, and tough defeats into more motivation, hunger, and determination to keep fighting hard. The fans lifted us up, kept encouraging us, and reminded us of the greatness we were capable of achieving.”

Channels TV

Chinese football fans will need to shell out up to $680 to see Lionel Messi lead Argentina against Australia in a Beijing friendly, organisers said Friday.

The game on June 15 at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium is a rematch of Argentina and Australia’s meeting in the last 16 of the Qatar World Cup.

Messi, who is set to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer, scored in a 2-1 win for Argentina and they went on to lift the World Cup.

Tickets ranging from 580 yuan ($82) to 4,800 yuan will go on sale in two batches, on June 5 and 8, organisers said.

Disgruntled fans online quickly decried the prices for the exhibition game.

“I’m reporting you for robbery,” one user on the Twitter-like Weibo commented on the organisers’ official account.

“For 4,800, will Messi carry us on his back while he plays?” wrote another.

It will be Messi’s first visit to China since 2017.

Strict steps are being taken to prevent scalping, with spectators required to provide identification information and show ID cards or passports to enter the stadium.

But merchants on China’s Taobao shopping platform immediately began offering booking services for the tickets, with one seller charging 18,000 yuan for what they claimed was access to VIP seats.

International sport has only just begun to return to China after Beijing abruptly ditched strict virus curbs late last year.

Vanguard

Nigeria eliminated host nation Argentina as goals from Ibrahim Muhammad and Rilwanu Haliru Sarki sent the six-time champions out of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup on Wednesday.

On an incredible night in western Argentina, the Flying Eagles pulled out every trick in the book to defend in numbers and then score two goals through quick counter-attacks.

The performance in this round of 16 match had the Albiceleste Sub-20, who had won all their three matches in the group phase, stunned as they crashed out of the tournament.

Nigeria Head Coach Ladan Bosso had promised that his boys would give as much as they got, and they did that and more with clear intent from the ninth minute.

That was when a snapshot by Ibrahim Muhammad on the edge of the penalty box went narrowly off.

There were even exchanges afterward, and the South Americans came close with a header in the 39th minute.

But the Flying Eagles returned with more stamina and guile in the second half and completely dominated the hosts in front of nearly 30,000 fans in San Juan.

Goalkeeper Chijioke Aniagboso had saved from Barco in the 51st minute and Jude Sunday’s shot was held by the opposition goalie.

Thereafter, the two-time silver medallists struck the underside of the bar with an intelligent shot from the edge of the box by Tochukwu Nnadi in the 58th minute.

The hosts did escape there, but would not be that lucky three minutes later when from a long Aniagboso ball out, substitute Emmanuel Umeh found an onrushing Muhammad.

He stretched beyond the attention of two defenders and pushed the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper into the net.

Two minutes later, Umeh could have turned goalscorer when he ran powerfully down the left and planted himself in a good position but dragged his shot a little too wide.

Carboni saw his shot held by the calm Aniagboso and then headed wide before Umeh again came close only to be foiled with the goalkeeper beaten.

The nifty Romero hit the upright with a deceptive shot in the 83rd minute.

Also, Abel Ogwuche cleared the ball as two Argentines were set to pull the trigger in the 85th minute with things becoming really anxious.

The hosts, who are under the tutelage of the legendary Javier Mascherano, poured forward in search of the equaliser, and were then open to a sucker punch.

AC Milan’s Victor Eletu showed tenacity to hold on to another long Aniagboso ball out of defence.

He then lifted for Haliru Sarki to nod into the net with aplomb for Nigeria’s second with one minute into added time.

The victory somewhat atoned for Argentina’s 2-1 defeat of Nigeria in the final of the 2005 edition of the competition in The Netherlands.

That was when Lionel Messi scored twice from the penalty kick spot to deny the African champions.

Victory took the Flying Eagles to the quarter-finals, where they meet the winners of the Ecuador/South Korea Round of 16 duel to be decided on Thursday.

NAN

Nigeria defeated Italy in an end-to-end encounter at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023 on Wednesday, courtesy of Salim Fago Lawal’s diving header and Jude Sunday’s last-gasp finish.

The result means the Flying Eagles qualify for the knockout stage on six points while the Azzurri are on three points after two games apiece in Group D.

Both sides had chances in the first half, with Tommaso Baldanzi testing the hands of Kingsley Aniagboso. The first goal arrived just after the hour.

Half-time substitute Umeh Emmanuel and Gabriele Guarino collided inside the Italian box, but the latter spring straight up and dinked the ball back across goal. Salim Fago Lawal flung himself into the air and headed into a semi-guarded net.

Thereafter, Nigeria’s admirable defending reduced Italy to shots from outside the box. Daniele Montevago had the best of them, but curler his effort wide.

Then, in stoppage time, the Flying Eagles made absolutely sure of the victory. Goalkeeper Aniagboso got the assist, his punt upfield finding the rampaging Sunday, who struck it across goal and into the bottom corner.

Channels TV