NIGERIA
President Bola Tinubu has appointed John Owan Enoh from Cross River State as the new Minister of Sports Development.
Enoh, a former Senator, who represented Cross River Central in the 8th National Assembly, replaces Sunday Dare.
Senator Enoh was once a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State is now the 36th person to supervise Nigerian sports.
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The House of Representatives Committee on Sports on Wednesday pledged to wade into the crisis over unpaid bonuses to national football teams players by the Nigeria Football Federation.
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Ekene Abubakar, stated this in Abuja at a meeting with the NFF at the National Assembly Complex.
The committee and the federation agreed to work together to find lasting solutions to the recurring issue of unpaid bonuses of all national teams players.
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The Nigeria Football Federation has opened negotiations with Jose Peseiro over a new contract as national coach.
Its President Ibrahim Gusau said Peseiro contract ended in July and they were now talking to him and his lawyers.
Peseiro had been on a one-year contract. Gusau said talks were held up because of the delay in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, on which the contract was based.
The competition will be held in January and February. Peseiro has led Nigeria to qualification with a game to spare.
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Bendel Insurance have thrown the gates open for their CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round first leg clash against Algerian side, ASO Chlef.
The management of the Benin Arsenals took the decision to allow fans troop in en masse to support the team.
Insurance will be participating in the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time.
The encounter is slated for the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City on Saturday, by 4pm.
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Sporting Lagos are on the verge of completing their Stadium.
The newly-promoted Nigeria Professional Football League side are said to be building a stadium in Lagos.
Sporting Lagos team manager Oluwayemisi Cole who stated this, said the stadium would be ready before the start of 2024-25 NPFL season.
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England-born Nigerian striker Chuba Akpom has left English Championship club Middlesbrough for Dutch Eredivisie giants Ajax.
In a statement released by Ajax on their website on Wednesday, Akpom has signed a five-year contract.
The 27-year-old scored 29 goals last season and was named Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year.
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Deontay Wilder’s team are ‘optimistic’ a deal can be agreed for a mega-fight with Anthony Joshua.
The British heavyweight stayed on course for a showdown against the Bronze Bomber after a seventh-round knockout of Robert Helenius on Saturday night.
American Wilder also defeated Helenius, aged 39, in October last year.
Former two-time heavyweight world champion Joshua now has his sights set on facing Wilder in Saudi Arabia in January next year.
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Nigerian-born New Zealand-based UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has vowed to destroy his opponent, Sean Strickland’s jaw at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, nineth September.
Adesanya won the middleweight title back from Alex Pereira, who defeated him via a fifth-round TKO last November.
Adesanya got his revenge in April with a second-round knockout win to move to 24-2 (16 knockouts) in his professional career.
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D’Tigers’ Head Coach, Ogoh Odaudu, has accepted the blame for Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing FIBA Africa Pre-Olympics qualifiers holding in Lagos.
Nigeria lost the two games of the competition to Senegal and Mali, and failed to qualify for the final of the competition, which offers the winner Africa’s last slot to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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Over 200 children have converged on the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, to learn the rudiments of the game at the yearly Fusion Tennis Foundation Clinic and Tournament.
The project, organised by former Nigerian junior champion, Fuad Quadre, is aimed at promoting the development of the game at the grassroots and also help talented junior players to achieve their dream.
Speaking on the programme, Quadre revealed that one of the players discovered by the foundation in an earlier edition is now a graduate of an American university.
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IN WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
England have reached the Women’s World Cup final for the first time as they spoiled co-hosts Australia’s party on a historic moment in Sydney.
Silencing a sell-out crowd at Stadium Australia with their 3-1 victory, the Lionesses became the first England football team since 1966 to reach a senior final on the world stage.
England now set up a final with Spain on Sunday.
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ENGLAND
Manchester City added the Uefa Super Cup to the Treble they claimed last season with victory over Sevilla on penalties in Athens.
Pep Guardiola’s Champions League winners lost the Community Shield to Arsenal in a shootout, but saw their fortunes transformed when Sevilla’s Nemanja Gudelj hit the bar after nine successful penalties.
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Arsenal have confirmed the team’s player, Jurrien Timber has suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee and will undergo surgery.
Timber, limped off the pitch in the 50th minute of the Gunners’ 2-1 victory against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Netherlands international signed from Ajax for £34m last month.
Arsenal said Timber “will be out of action for a period of time” without specifying a duration.
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Chelsea have agreed a deal to sell winger Hakim Ziyech to Galatasaray.
The Morocco international is now expected to undergo a medical with the Turkish Super Lig club.
He has fallen out of favour at Stamford Bridge and has previously seen moves to Paris St-Germain and Saudi Pro League club, Al Nassr, fall through.
Ziyech made 107 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions since joining them in 2020 for £33.3m.
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Chelsea’s eight-figure capture of Moises Caicedo is the latest in a long line of lavishly expensive transfers made by the Premier League club under owner Todd Boehly.
The deal for the Ecuador international could rise to a British club record of £115m, breaking a record the Blues set for themselves just six months ago when they spent £107m on another midfielder player – Argentina World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez.
According to Transfermarkt, Chelsea have spent just over £800m on new players since Boehly’s takeover last summer, around £430m more than the next-highest spenders Manchester United.
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Tottenham are in talks with Lazio over the potential sale of goalkeeper and former captain Hugo Lloris.
The former France international was omitted from the Tottenham squad as they opened their Premier League campaign with a two-all draw at Brentford.
Lloris expressed a desire to leave the club earlier this summer and was also left out of their pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East.
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Manchester City have accepted an undisclosed offer from Al-Nassr for Spain defender Aymeric Laporte.
He made 43 starts during 2021-22 but coach Pep Guardiola used Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake more often during City’s Treble-winning season.
Manchester City then spent £77m to bring in another left-sided defender this summer in Croatia’s Josko Gvardiol.
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Manchester United says no decision has made about Mason Greenwood’s future, which is still the “subject of intensive internal deliberation”.
Charges against forward Greenwood, 21, including attempted rape and assault, were dropped 2nd February.
An announcement was expected before Monday’s Premier League opener against Wolves but was delayed.
Manchester United said the “fact-finding phase” of their investigation was now complete.
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Harry Maguire’s move to West Ham is off with the defender intent on staying at Manchester United to fight for his place in the first team.
The England defender, looked set to join the Hammers after a £30m fee was agreed between the clubs.
Maguire struggled for first-team opportunities last season and was stripped of the captaincy this season.
Manchester United have maintained they would respect his wishes and did not want to push him out of the club.
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OTHER SPORTS
In Tennis; Venus Williams was unable to win back-to-back WTA Tour matches for the first time since 2019 after letting a lead of a set and a break slip in Cincinnati.
On the day Williams received a wildcard for a record-extending 24th US Open, the 43-year-old American lost 1-6 6-2 6-1 to world number 24 Zheng Qinwen.
Williams, ranked 533rd, led 6-1 2-0 before losing 11 games in a row.
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In Boxing; Super-featherweight world champion Alycia Baumgartner has returned an “adverse analytical finding” following a drug test.
But the American, 29, has denied taking any illegal substances, declaring the test result “essentially impossible”.
The test was taken three days before Baumgartner defeated Greece’s Christina Linardatou in Detroit on 15 July.
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In Golf; Francesco Molinari has been named as Europe’s fifth and final vice-captain as they try to win back the Ryder Cup from the United States in Rome.
The 40-year-old Italian, a key member of Europe’s 2018 win as a player, joins captain Luke Donald’s team for the event at the Marco Simone Club.
Molinari joins brother Edoardo, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Bjorn as vice-captains.
The Ryder Cup, which the US won in 2021, starts on 29 September.
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In Rugby; Former captain Stuart McInally has been omitted from Scotland’s squad for the Rugby World Cup, along with Murphy Walker, Josh Bayliss, and Jamie Dobie.
Head coach Gregor Townsend had already trimmed his pool of players to 37 before the announcement.
Edinburgh hooker McInally, who led Scotland at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, is now due to retire to become an airline pilot.
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In Cricket; Southern Brave moved back to the top of the table with victory over winless Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred.
An opening stand of 84 between Danni Wyatt and Smriti Mandhana got the Brave off to a good start at the Ageas Bowl.
Phoenix fought back on a slow, turning surface to restrict them to 132-4.
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OTHER LEAGUES
Former Barcelona midfielder Deco is returning to the club as their new sporting director.
The Brazil-born Portugal international, has signed a three-year contract at the Nou Camp.
Deco first joined Barcelona from Porto in 2004 and won La Liga twice in four seasons, and the 2006 Champions League.
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Roma manager, Jose Mourinho, wants the club to sign Chelsea striker Armando Broja this summer transfer window.
Mourinho is looking to bolster his team’s attack after Tammy Abraham, was sidelined after suffering an ACL injury.
Mourinho’s side have reinforced their ranks all over the pitch this summer transfer market.
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TODAY’S THOUGHT
“Character is like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing,” – Abraham Lincoln.
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