SPORTS
ITF World Tennis Tour: Israel’s Cohen Wins, Qualifies for Singles Finals
Isreal’s Romi Cohen, on Saturday, defeated Mary Udoffa of Nigeria 6-0, 2-0 to qualify for the singles finals of the ongoing J5 World Tennis Championship in Abuja.
In the female doubles category, Cohen paired with Nigeria’s Marylove Edwards to defeat the duo of Joody Elkady of Egypt and Nigeria’s Josephine Yakubu, 6-2, 6-2 in the championship which draws to a close on Sunday.
Cohen told the newsmen she was very happy about the two victories.
“Today is one of the best days for me, my performance was very good, I work and fought hard to deserve the victories.
“It was a tough match and a good match pairing with Marylove Edwards in the doubles category.
We made a massive impression. We defeated our opponents. Our plan is to win the tournament’s finals and we did. We are happy.“We won with 6-2, 6-2 against our opponents Joody Elkady from Egypt and Yakubu of Nigeria. We calculated our sets well.
“I did a good calculation work in singles and also doubles, we actually got our sets well.
“I will work hard on my tactics for tomorrow’s final match against Marylove in the singles category so that I can win again and lift the trophy,” she said.
Newsmen report that in the female singles category, Edwards of Nigeria will meet Romi Cohen of Israel in the singles final on Sunday, while Nigeria’s Mary Udoffa will lock horns with Ibifuro Clement of the US in the third place match.
In the male singles category, Mukhtar Andu from Great Britain defeated Musa Sani of Nigeria, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to advance to the finals.
Michael Emmanuel of Nigeria knocked out Ghana’s Desmond Ayaaba 6-3,6-2 to advance to the finals.
Andu will meet Emmanuel in the final match, while Musa Sani will face Desmond Ayaaba in the third place match on Sunday.
In another match played in the male doubles category, Desmond Ayaaba of Ghana and Suileman Ibrahim defeated the pair of Andu and Musa Sani, 6-0, 6-7, 10-3 to advance to the finals.
A total of 41 of players from Nigeria, Germany, US, Sweden, Ghana, Britain, South Africa and Israel are participating in the championship.
The J5 ITF World Tennis Tour, which started on Nov.15, will end on Sunday, Nov. 21. (NAN)
SPORTS
Int’l Friendly: Super Eagles Hand Mali First Win in 49 Years
The Super Eagles were given a reality check by Mali’s Les Aigles as they succumbed to a 0-2 defeat in a friendly game in Marrakech, Morocco on Tuesday.
Reports says that the rare win by the Malians against Nigeria was their first in 49 years.
Goals by El Bilal Toure and Kamory Doumbia sealed the win for Mali.
The last time Mali defeated the Super Eagles was on Sept.
5, 1975, also in a friendly which ended 4-1.Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Eagles were unbeaten in eight straight fixtures against the Malians, recording five wins and three draws.
Interim coach, Finidi George, gave starting shirts to Jamilu Collins, Raphael Onyedika, and Kenneth Omeruo.
The trio replaced Bruno Onyemaechi, Frank Onyeka and Benjamin Tanimu, who all featured in the 2-1 win against Ghana on Friday.
The Malians dominated the early stages of the game and almost took the lead less than five minutes into the game, but were denied by goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali.
The breakthrough for Mali eventually came in the 14th minute as El Bilal Toure capitalised on a defensive error by Nigeria to score.
The Eagles were forced into a first half change as Moses Simon went off injured in 34th minute and was replaced by Cyriel Dessers.
The early part of the second half saw the Super Eagles start brightly but the Malian defence held firm.
Despite starting the half on a positive note, it was Mali who almost doubled their lead but the Eagles defence intercepted a dangerous cross from the left.
Dessers was presented an opportunity in the 65th minute as he was sent through on goal but blasted his shot over the bar with only the keeper to beat.
Iheanacho had a chance of his own barely a minute later, but took a low shot which was parried away for a corner.
With 12 minutes left, the Eagles won a freekick in a decent position but Iheanacho’s floated attempt was again cleared away by the keeper.
Mali then doubled their lead in the 87th minute thanks to Kamory Doumbia who raced into the Eagles’ 18 yard box and fired past Nwabali to earn his side a well deserved win.
Up next for the Super Eagles is the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June against South Africa who held Algeria to a 3-3 draw at the Nelson Mandela Stadium on Tuesday. (NAN)
SPORTS
Wrestling : 4 Nigerian Wrestlers Secure Olympic Qualification in Egypt
Four Nigerian Wrestlers on Saturday qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics in their various events at the ongoing African championships and Olympics qualifiers in Alexandria, Egypt.
Reports says that the wrestlers will now join Odunayo Adekuoroye, who secured qualification in 2023 after winning a bronze medal in the women’s 57kg category at the World Championships in Belgrade.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalist Blessing Oburududu booked a place at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a 2-0 pinfall victory over Uilau Tarkong of Palau in the 68kg.
World Military Champion, Hannah Reuben Pipped Amy Youin of Cote D’Ivoire 6-0 in the 76kg category to secure Olympics slot in Paris .
Esther Kolawole joined the list of Nigerian athletes going to Paris for the Olympics after overcoming Angelina Rodrigues of Cape Verde 10-0.
African Games champion, Christiana Ogunsanya in the 53kg category overpowered Egyptian Shaimaa Mohamed 10-0 to secure qualification.
However, Mercy Genesis narrowly missed out on Paris Olympics in this window after a 5-7 defeat to Nada
Mohamed of Egypt in the 50kg weight class.
Reports says that five female wrestlers will represent the country in the Paris 2024 Olympics .
NAN reports that Nigerian male freestyle wrestlers will hope to join their female counterparts on Sunday when they take to the mat.
Sunday will be the final day of this window’s qualifiers.
NAN reports that the remaining Olympic slots will be decided on May 9 to 12 at the 2024 World Qualification Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.
NAN reports that the African championships and Olympic qualifiers which started on Monday in Alexandria, Egypt is expected to end Sunday.(NAN)
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)