GLOBAL ASSOCIATION NEWS
FIFA has lifted its 18-month suspension of the Zimbabwe Football Association, days before the draw for the African qualification competition for the 2026 World Cup.
Zimbabwe was suspended by the global governing body in February 2022 following perceived government interference in the running of the troubled football association.
An interim normalisation committee has been appointed to run the affairs of the Association until elections for a new management team are held.
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NIGERIA
Taiwo Awoniyi says the Super Eagles main objective is to conquer the rest of the continent at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
The three-time champions sealed a place at the 2023 AFCON finals after a hard-fought 3-2 win against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone last month.
The Super Eagles last tasted success on the continent in 2013 in South Africa.
The West Africans won the title for the first time in 1980 and repeated the feat in 1994.
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Ex-International Tijani Babangida, has praised the Interim Management Committee for setting a standard for strong competition in the Nigeria Premier League.
Babangida is currently serving as a mentor for the reigning NPL champions, Enyimba at the ongoing Naija Super 8 pre-season tournament in Lagos.
The former Ajax forward said teams in the NPL have shown tremendous improvement at all levels.
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Abia State government, has confirmed former Arsenal striker, Kanu Nwankwo, as Enyimba of Aba’s new chairman.
Kanu replaces Felix Anyansi-Agwu, who led the club for 24 years.
Governor Alex Otti dissolved the Enyimba board, led by Anyansi-Agwu, shortly after the Nigerian Premier Football League Championship Play-off, which the Peoples Elephant won to become the 2022/23 league champions.
Kanu, is expected to lead Enyimba to success in both the CAF Champions League and the 2023/24 season’s league and Federation Cup competitions, which his predecessor won on several occasions.
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Governo Hope Uzodimma has redeemed his pledge of N30m to six Super Falcons players who participated at the 2022 Africa Women Championship in Morocco who are from the state.
The players are Desire Okparanozie, Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, Vivian Ikechukwu, Goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi, Ohale Osinachi and United States-born Michelle Alozie.
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Akwa United midfielder, Cyril Olisema has extended his contract with the team ahead of the new season.
The mercurial midfielder was in scintillating form for the Promise Keepers last season.
Olisema netted seven goals in all competitions for the Uyo club as they narrowly missed out on a Super Six playoff spot.
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Nigeria has won the 2023 African Under-twenty-one Nations Women’s Volleyball Championship Zone three in Niamey, Niger Republic.
Nigeria defeated Ghana 25-10, 25-15, 25-10 in the finals to clinch the title.
The girls had earlier eased past local rivals, Ghana in their first match of the tournament with a 25-11, 25-15, 25-8 win.
They continued their winning run in their second match against hosts Niger, winning 25-4, 25-11, 25-4.
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Forty-seven years after Nigeria boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and evacuated its athletes from the event, a member of Team Nigeria to the Games, Segun Odegbami, says it was the most shattering experience of their lives.
Twenty-nine countries mostly African and including Nigeria boycotted the Montreal Games after the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand, whose rugby union team toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations’ calls for a sporting embargo against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Then military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, ordered the 45 Nigerian athletes and their officials to return home on the eve of the Games’ opening ceremony eight days after they had arrived Montreal.
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After moving some steps close to qualifying for Budapest 2023 World Championships in Togo, Nigeria has taken its search for the relay tickets in the men’s 4x100m, 4x400m and women’s 4X400m to the Lagos Series, which begins this week.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s trip to the African Region 2 relay events in Togo, did not produce the needed results and as things stand, only two of the teams, the women’s 4x100m and the mixed relay sides, have qualified for the championships.
They got their tickets in the final of their events at the 18th World Championships held at Oregon, United States, last year.
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The Badminton Federation of Nigeria is set to host the Lagos International Badminton Classics.
With the aim of attracting top talent and generating excitement, the Federation unveiled its plans to host a grand event that showcases the best of badminton in the heart of Lagos.
Its Pesident, Francis Orbih, said no fewer than twenty companies, ranging from banking, aviation to insurance, logistics, transportation, others have indicated interest in partnering and raising the bar for sporting events in Nigeria.
He noted that the event aims to unlock opportunities for collaboration, create unforgettable experiences, and captivate audiences on a whole new level.
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Jermaine Franklin has been in the ring with both Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte recently and so, is in a position to know the abilities of the two pugilists, who will meet for the third at the O2 Arena, London, next month.
When they were still amateurs, Whyte had the better of Joshua, but the former two-time world champion had the last laugh in the pro ranks in 2015.
Joshua’s career has been the more flambuoyant as he has risen to hold world titles on two occasions, but then, Whyte still believes he is the better fighter.
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ENGLAND
Free agent Ashley Young has agreed to join Everton and is scheduled to have a medical on Tuesday after leaving Aston Villa this summer.
Young’s contract at Villa Park expired and he has held talks with Luton, while there was also interest from Saudi Arabia.
Young, 38, won the Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester United, and the Serie A title with Inter Milan.
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West Ham have unveiled their new home shirt for the 2023-24 season, and there was no sign of Declan Rice as he edges closer towards a one hundred and five million pounds move to Arsenal.
Arsenal reached a full agreement with the Hammers to sign Rice, who was set to undergo his medical in north London last week after finalising personal terms.
Official confirmation of his switch to the Emirates is expected, with Mikel Arteta closing in on his second major signing of the summer.
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Chelsea have revealed their home kit for the 2023-24 season without a front-of-shirt sponsor.
A shirt deal with telecommunications company Three was not renewed when it expired at the end of last season.
The Premier League blocked a deal with streaming service Paramount+, because of concerns about upsetting its broadcast rights holders.
Chelsea decided against a shirt sponsorship agreement with an online gambling company.
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Chelsea star, Reece James’s father Nigel says his son wants to become the team’s captain as manager Mauricio Pochettino weighs up who to give the armband to after Cesar Azpilicueta’s departure
Nigel spoke about his son’s long-term hopes at a time when the armband is up for grabs at Chelsea.
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Manchester United have set their valuation of Harry Maguire high, which could deter potential suitors from targeting him this summer.
Maguire was signed by the Red Devils in 2019 for eighty million pounds, still the world-record fee for a defender.
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Newcastle United are set to challenge Manchester United for the signature of centre-back Axel Disasi.
The Monaco defender has been a long-time target of Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils, who were thought to be in pole position to sign the Frenchman.
But by failing to make a formal offer for Disasi, they now face competition from Premier League rivals Newcastle who finished just a place behind them in last season’s table.
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Former Manchester United player, Dwight Yorke has urged the club to sign Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane.
Yorke believes what Kane will bring to Manchester United will be priceless, adding that the Red Devils should quickly sign the England captain before he joins Bayern Munich.
Kane has been linked with both Manchester United and Bayern Munich this summer.
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Free agent Andros Townsend is training with newly promoted Premier League side Burnley after leaving Everton following the expiration of his contract.
Townsend earned thirteen England caps but missed the entirety of last season because of a knee injury.
The former Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Newcastle player last featured in a first-team game in March 2022.
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OTHER SPORTS
In Tennis; Novak Djokovic breached the previously impregnable defences of Hubert Hurkacz to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 14th time on Monday.
Defending champion Djokovic, chasing a record-equalling eighth title and 24th Grand Slam, won 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-4.
In the fourth set, Djokovic broke for a crucial 4-3 lead, ending Hurkacz’s perfect run of 67 service games at the tournament this year.
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Novak Djokovic has urged Wimbledon to re-think its start times as he prepares to play for the third day in a row.
The defending champion takes on Andrey Rublev in Tuesday’s quarter-finals, having played his previous match against Hubert Hurkacz over two days.
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Top seed Carlos Alcaraz underlined his status as the man likeliest to stop Novak Djokovic winning another Wimbledon after beating 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini in the fourth round.
The 20-year-old Spaniard fought back to win 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 and reach the SW19 quarter-finals for the first time.
Alcaraz will next face Denmark’s Holger Rune, who won 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
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Wimbledon chiefs said they have no plans to issue a statement after Belarusia’s Victoria Azarenka was booed off court following her defeat by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina won a gripping three-set match on Court One late Sunday to set up a quarter-final clash with world number one Iga Swiatek.
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In Cricket; England fast bowler Mark Wood is confident he will be fit to play in the remaining two Ashes Tests.
The 33-year-old was player of the match in the three-wicket win over Australia in the third Test at Headingley, taking seven wickets and bowling at high pace.
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A ban has been imposed by the Swiss Gymnastics Federation, which will prohibit the taking of ‘suggestive’ photos.
The ban is being introduced in an attempt to keep the focus on the gymnast’s poses and positions.
The federation claim in their new guideline that the main intention is to prevent images of the gymnast’s ‘crotch’.
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In Athletics; Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards and Polish rival Maciej Lepiato shared high jump gold on a dramatic evening of action at the Para Athletics World Championships in Paris.
The pair both failed to clear 2.07m in the T64 final for athletes with lower limb impairments.
However, they had first-time clearances all the way up to 2.05m.
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In Rugby; Ospreys have agreed new contracts with five players for next season.
Former Wales Under-20s fly-half Luke Scully has signed to remain at the Swansea.com stadium.
He follows props Rhys Henry and Ben Warren and back rows Tristan Davies and Will Griffiths in agreeing new deals with the region.
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OTHER LEAGUES.
Zambia captain, Barbra Banda has been permitted to play at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this month despite having previously failed a ‘gender eligibility test’.
Banda, who scored twice to marshal Zambia to a shock three-two win over Germany in a warm-up friendly last Friday, was banned from featuring at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations.
He was banned after demonstrating excessively high levels of testosterone during a ‘gender eligibility test’ ahead of the tournament.
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Roma forward, Paulo Dybala has spoken out about rumours of a transfer to Chelsea, after the player was spotted in England.
The New Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino has been a long-time admirer of Dybala, and was thought to be keen on bringing the Argentine to London.
Dybala and his partner had watched Carlos Alcaraz win on Centre Court, and was not the only sporting event that the Argentine enjoyed during his time in England.
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Queens Park Rangers co-owner Tony Fernandes has left the Championship club after twelve years’ involvement.
Fernandes bought the west London club in 2011 alongside Ruben Gnanalingam and Kamarudin Meranun, and stepped down as co-chairman in 2018.
The club said the Malaysian businessman, who founded airline AirAsia, no longer holds any shares in Queens Park Rangers Holdings Limited.
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TODAY’S THOUGHT
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”…Words from John Wooden.
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”…Words from Muhammad Ali.
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