SPORTS
Galahad Defends IBF belt Against Martinez
Kid Galahad from Sheffield, England makes the first defence of his IBF featherweight belt against the veteran 35-year-old, Kiko Martinez of Alicante, Spain, on Saturday night at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.
The 30 year-old Galahad, 28-1; 17, whose birth name is Abdul Bari Awad was born in Doha, Qatar, and has been fighting as a professional in the United Kingdom since he made his pro debut in September 2009.
In a successful career he has won the WBC International, British, European, Commonwealth, IBF youth junior featherweight titles and the IBF Intercontinental featherweight title before winning the vacant IBF featherweight belt in his most recent fight on 7 August this year, with a 12th round stoppage win over James Dickens (30-3) in Sheffield.
The only loss on his record came against Josh Warrington on a split decision in June 2019 when challenging for the IBF featherweight belt.
Martinez, 42-10-2;2, has been fighting as a pro for 17 years and captured a number of titles including the IBF junior featherweight belt on 17 August 2013 with a sixth-round stoppage win over Johnathan Romeo.
However, after making successful defences against Jeffrey Mathebula and Hozumi Hasegawa he lost the belt to Carl Frampton on points over 12 rounds.
He is now at the end of his career, winning three of his last five fights and is rated at No. 15 by the IBF.
On the undercard Bournemouth’s Chris Billiam-Smith, 13-1; 10, makes the first defence of his European cruiserweight title against Dylan Bregeon, 11-1-1; 3.
English and Italian football giants Manchester City, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Juventus will square up for pre-season friendlies in Hong Kong in August, the clubs announced yesterday.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, currently arm-wrestling Arsenal for the Premier League title, will take on Inter Milan on Saturday, August 1, spearheaded by their Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland.
The match will kick off the “Hong Kong Football Festival” at the city’s futuristic 50,000-seat Kai Tak stadium.
The gleaming arena opened a year ago, featuring a roof that can be closed and air-conditioning to combat the fierce summer heat and humidity in Hong Kong.
Chelsea will play Juventus on Wednesday August 5 to round off the mini-tournament.
Lagos State will host the second edition of the National School Volleyball Championships from April 21 to April 24 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
President of the Nigeria School Sport Federation (NSSF), Olabisi Joseph, said in a statement on Monday that schools from across the country had converged for the four-day tournament.
She said the competition meant for secondary schools is organised by the NSSF in collaboration with the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), with support from the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC).
Joseph said the annual tournament aims to develop volleyball in the school system and identify outstanding athletes who will represent Nigeria at the International School Sport Federation (ISF) events.
She expressed delight at the growing interest among schools nationwide and urged participants to be worthy ambassadors of their institutions.
“In Nigeria, we are blessed with an abundance of talent in the school system.
“Volleyball, being one of the popular sports in schools, has ignited healthy rivalry among students.
“Sports stimulates learning, so we are building a total child through events like this,” she said.
Joseph added that standout athletes from the Lagos championship would be shortlisted to compete at the ISF World School Volleyball Championship in China.
She described the event as a unique opportunity for young players to showcase their skills before global scouts.
“Teams from Lagos, Osun, Rivers, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Ogun, Taraba, Bauchi and other states are competing for honours, with NVBF technical officials on ground to scout for talent.”
The maiden edition of the National School Volleyball Championships was held in Abuja, where host teams won both the boys’ and girls’ categories.
Outstanding players from the FCT, Plateau and Kaduna states later represented Nigeria at the 2025 ISF World School Volleyball Championships in China.
The World School Volleyball Championship is scheduled to be held from July 1 to July 10 in China.
Guinea will face Nigeria’s Flamingos in the final qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The Guineans defeated Niger Republic 3-0 in the second leg of their qualifying fixture in Conakry on Saturday.
They won the contest 8-2 on aggregate, following their 5-2 triumph in the first leg last week.
The winner of the Flamingos versus Guinea clash will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The Flamingos set up camp in Abuja for the clash with their fellow West Africans last week.
Newly appointed head coach, Akeem Busari invited 36 players to camp for the team’s preparation.
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