SPORTS
FG Slates 60 Sports Icons for Honours
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The federal government through the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development has concluded arrangements to honour 60 Nigerian sports icons and personalities that have won laurels for the country as well as those that have made meaningful impact on sports development in the last sixty years.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister, John Joshua Akanji said the event was part of activities organised by the Federal government to celebrate Nigeria’s Diamond jubilee.
Akanji said the Ministers of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare while receiving the Report of the Committee set up to collate the votes by Nigerians for the 60 awardees stated that the event was initiated to reward excellence and hard work.
“We initiated this award because of the need to reward our heroes and heroines who have sweated to put the name of Nigeria on the world map. Unfortunately most of these patriots have died, but we are also consoled that many of them are still alive.
“Another import of the award is that it will encourage the younger athletes and indeed Nigerians in other fields to always give their best to the country, knowing that their efforts would be appreciated by the country”.
Dare also appealed to other deserving awardees who may not have been captured in this first edition to be patient, assuring that they could also be rewarded in subsequent editions.
“I appreciate the effort the collation committee put in to arrive at these 60 names because the truth is that there are so many more deserving Nigerians because we wanted to restrict the number to only 60 to commemorate the Diamond jubilee of our country”, Dare stated.
The event which will hold at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja on Friday October 16, is expected to be graced by President Muhammadu Buhari, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as well as some of the awardees and members of their families.
The statement further revealed that the committee received over 3,500 nominations who were voted for the honours through various social media channels, television, radio and other platforms.
SPORTS
Flying Eagles Crash Out of African Games
The Flying Eagles of Nigeria have been knocked out of the men’s football event of the 2023 African Games in Ghana after a 3-2 defeat by Senegal.
Reports says that the Flying Eagles took an early lead in the second minute through Charles Agada in the match played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Friday evening.
Idrissa Traore, however, equalised for Senegal in the 21st minute when his low shot beat the time in the encounter.
Chibuzor Izuogu put Nigeria back into the game when he equalised to make it 2-2 through a brilliant free kick.
Pape Diouf converted from the spot for the winning goal to send Senegal to the semi finals.
The Flying Eagles ended their campaign with only one victory against South Sudan, losing their opening match 2-1 to Uganda and 3-2 to Senegal.
Nigeria finished third in the group behind Uganda and Senegal, with South Sudan coming fourth.
After the match, Bosso said he was disappointed at the result and blamed poor preparation for the performance.
“I’m disappointed because this game was the best we have played so far in this tournament.
” I didn’t have enough time to scout for players and what I did was to watch few games in Uyo and other places .That’s where I saw the two Enyimba players, Daga and Chibueze,” Bosso said.
Nigeria won the men’s football silver at the last African Games in Rabat, Morocco in 2019 after a 2-0 loss to Burkina Faso in the final.(NAN)
SPORTS
Joshua Knocks Out Ngannou, Parker Claims WBO Interim Title
Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou headlined the Knockout Chaos card on Friday night.
Former two-time world heavyweight champion, Joshua, battled the Cameroonian, who knocked down Fury last October.
The card had it all, a sublime KO, a title win and a hard-fought draw.
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Joshua came out fighting and despite Ngannou’s brave efforts, he could barely touch the former heavyweight champion.
Joshua knocked Ngannou down three times in the bout with the first coming with 40 seconds left in round one as the British-Nigerian landed a solid right punch on the Cameroonian’s chin and he went down.
Ngannou let the referee count to eight before stepping back up.
The same thing happened on the second knockdown in round two as he gets up on eight seconds.
However, the third knockdown sends him straight down and he can no longer get up needing oxygen and a doctor long after the bell signaling the end of the fight and Joshua’s win was rung.
This was an incredible result for Joseph Parker as he was knocked down on two occasions in the fight but still got the win.
Parker takes the WBO interim heavyweight title and was joined in the ring by his entourage, including WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury.
The Kiwi has now won five fights on the bounce, having beaten Deontay Wilder last time out, and he moves to an overall record of 35 wins and three defeats.
Asked what is next, Parker says “a rematch with Zhang. We’ve got a contract.”
Nick Ball would have thought he had done enough from round seven onward to get the win.
It was a slow start but he claimed two knockdowns in the second half of the fight. Ball was looking to become the first Briton to hold the WBC featherweight title since Prince Naseem Hamed in 1999.
However, Vargas put on a strong showing himself and the match ended in a draw, with a rematch expected to come soon
SPORTS
Return Super Eagles to Indigenous Coaches – Yachi
From Attah Ede, Makurdi
Former General Manager of Professional League side, Babanawa FC, Harry Yachi has called on football administrators in the country to appoint the quartet of former Super Eagles Stars of Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke Finidi George and Vincent Enyeama to take over the management of the national team following the departure of the Technical Adviser, Peseiro.
The football administrator and former Referee said the decision has become imperative to give the national team a new lease of life.
Yachi urged the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to give the a quartet a five- year contract to handle the super eagles,
“We don’t need to bring in a foreign Coach, the coaches I have mentioned here have what it takes to start where Peseiro stopped.
I believe if they agree to work together with one mind, Nigeria football will be better,” Yachi advised.He anchored his proposal on the experience of the former players adding that they all have what it takes for the Super Eagles to regain its glory and move to higher heights.