NIGERIA
In a display of sheer determination and skill, four Nigerian boxers have advanced to their next stages of the ongoing 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana, signaling Nigeria’s strong presence in the boxing arena.
Three pugilists advanced to the quarter-finals while one of the Nigerian boxers progressed to the round of 16.
Joy Ojo emerged victorious in her bout against Sharua Ndagire of Uganda, securing a commanding unanimous decision victory with a score of five-nil in the women’s round of 16.
Ojo’s impressive performance propelled her to the quarter-final stage, where she is keen to showcase her prowess and determination on the boxing stage.
Meanwhile, Omole Dolapo delivered a stunning performance in the men’s 57kg category, knocking down Mohamed Kelany Ami of Egypt in the first round before securing a comprehensive unanimous decision win with a score of five-nil in the round of 16.
In the men’s seventy-one kilograms category, Ibrahim Yakubu showcased his skill and resilience by defeating Abenisem Daniel of Ethiopia in the round of 32.
Yakubu’s victory demonstrates Nigeria’s depth of talent in boxing and reinforces the nation’s status as a force to be reckoned with in the sport.
Adding to Nigeria’s success, Adams Olaore secured a dominant unanimous decision win with a score of five-nil over Alwanga Abuti of Kenya in the men’s 92kg category.
Olaore’s impressive performance underscores Nigeria’s commitment to excellence in boxing and sets the stage for further achievements in the competition.
Nigeria’s arm wrestling contingent continued their stellar performance at the 13th African Games in Ghana, culminating in an impressive tally of 13 medals as the competition drew to a close.
Day two of the Accra 2023 Arm Wrestling Championships saw Nigerian athletes securing additional victories, further solidifying their dominance in the sport across various weight categories.
Leading the charge was Sarah Matthew, whose remarkable display of skill saw her triumph over compatriot Blessing Ogungbure to claim the gold in the fiercely contested 70kg category while Ogungbure settled for silver adding to Nigeria’s medal haul.
Adding to the gold rush was Olubisi Oyewusi, who showcased unparalleled strength and determination to secure the gold in the women’s +80kg right-hand category, further bolstering Nigeria’s position as a powerhouse in African arm wrestling.
In the women’s 80kg right-hand category, Winifred Ndidi showcased her prowess by claiming the silver medal, further highlighting Nigeria’s depth of talent in the sport.
Chika Blessing’s bronze in the 55kg women’s right-hand category and Idowu Yunusa’s bronze in the men’s 65kg right-hand event added to Nigeria’s bronze medal count.
Samuel Nneka’s bronze in the men’s 85kg right-hand category further solidified Nigeria’s position as a formidable force in African arm wrestling, capping off a remarkable campaign for the Nigerian arm wrestling contingent.
With four gold, two silver, and seven bronze medals in their possession, the Nigerian arm wrestlers left an indelible mark on the Accra 2023 Arm Wrestling Championships, showcasing their skill, strength, and unwavering determination on the continental stage.
Flying Eagles coach, Ladan Bosso, has expressed disappointment at his team’s exit from the men’s football event after losing 3-2 to Senegal at the Accra Sports Stadium last Friday in their final group game at the ongoing African Games in Ghana.
The Flying Eagles finished third in Group B of the men’s football event behind Uganda and Senegal, with South Sudan coming fourth in the standings.
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, has been named Udinese’s Player of the Month Award for February.
He was presented with the award before Udinese’s two-nil loss at home to Torino on Saturday.
In the month under review, Okoye played four Serie A games helped his side to two wins, a draw and one defeat.
He also kept two clean sheet against Monza and Juventus, a game he made six saves while conceding twice in Udinese’s two-nil loss to Genoa.
Okoye who has rediscovered his form since his move to Udinese last summer has kept three clean sheets conceding 18 goals in 13 Serie A appearances for his Italian side this season.
The first FIFA ranking of the women’s national teams for 2024 is officially released by world football governing body with the Super Falcons experienced a downward slide.
According to the rankings, the nine-time African champions drop two spots from 32nd to 34th position.
Despite the drop, the Super Falcons maintained their stronghold as the leading team in Africa, retaining the coveted title of being the number one team on the continent.
In the African rankings, Super Falcons maintained top spot, followed by reigning African champions, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Mali and Equatorial Guinea complete the list of Africa’s top ten teams.
Meanwhile, world champions, Spain retained their spot at the summit in the global rankings, followed by England, France and USA.
D’Tigress will know their group opponents for the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s basketball event when the draw for the tournament holds at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Switzerland on Tuesday.
The draw will be overseen by basketball icons Penny Taylor and former NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony.
D’Tigress poised for a consecutive appearance after participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are seeded in pot four alongside Puerto Rico and Germany.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, unfortunately, did not qualify for the competition for the first time since the 2012 London edition.
ENGLAND
Manchester United kept their trophy hopes alive for this season and ended Liverpool’s quest for four trophies with a dramatic extra-time four -three victory in an FA Cup quarter-final classic at Old Trafford.
In an incident-packed encounter, it was substitute Amad Diallo who sent Erik ten Hag’s side to Wembley with a strike in the dying seconds of the additional period to send the Stretford End wild, the match-winner then being sent off after getting a second yellow card for his celebrations.
Scott McTominay, Antony and Marcus Rashford scored a goal each for Manchester United, while Liverpool’s three goals were scored by Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Harvey Elliott.
Chelsea scored twice in stoppage time to survive a major scare against Leicester City and reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke snatched victory for Chelsea at the end of a dramatic second half in which the home fans threatened to turn on manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella scored a goal for Chelsea, while Leicester City’s two goals were scored by Stephy Mavididi and a comedy own goal from Chelsea player Axel Disasi.
Chelsea Manager, Mauricio Pochettino says the team’s supporters do not need to trust him, but should trust the club after being on the receiving end of negative chants during the victory over Leicester in the FA Cup.
The home supporters booed the decision to substitute Mykhailo Mudryk instead of forward Raheem Sterling in the 78th minute, with some fans chanting “you don’t know what you’re doing”.
Sterling had missed a penalty and another good chance in the first half, then blazed a free-kick wildly over in the second before Chelsea went on to win four-two and reach the semi-finals.
Championship side Coventry City will face Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals, while holders Manchester City will play Chelsea.
Coventry City beat Wolves in their quarter-final through Ellis Simms’ 100th-minute winner.
Both semi-finals will take place at Wembley Stadium on the weekend of 20th and 21st April.
West Ham star, Tomas Soucek is denied a late winner for the team as they had to settle for a Premier League point against Aston Villa at London Stadium.
Soucek thought he had won it for the Hammers in the dying stages of added time, after getting on the end of James Ward-Prowse’s inswinging free-kick but it was ruled out for handball after a lengthy Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check.
Nicolo Zaniolo rescued a point for Champions League chasers Aston Villa, scoring in the 79th minute, while West Ham’s only goal was scored by Michail Antonio.
Nottingham Forest are likely to discover the result of a hearing into their Premier League profit and sustainability rules breach this week.
They face a possible points deduction after being charged in January, along with Everton, for PSR breaches in their accounts up until 2022-23.
A hearing was held on 7th and 8th March.
Anything more than a three-point penalty would see Forest fall into the relegation zone, below Luton with nine games to go.
Leeds United have moved to the top of the Championship for the first time this season after they beat Millwall two-nil at Elland Road.
Wilfried Gnonto sent Leeds ahead in stunning fashion with a tremendous strike from the edge of the box just past the half hour mark.
Dan James wrapped up the win with a close-range finish as he worked on to Rutter’s fantastic ball across the face of goal with eleven minutes remaining.
Manchester City women kept pace with Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea with a routine victory over Brighton women at Broadfield Stadium.
Lauren Hemp and Mary Fowler scored in the first half to set City on their way to a 10th successive WSL win, before Khadija Shaw added her 17th goal of the season after the break and Laura Coombs also scored a goal, while Brighton’s only goal was scored by Lee Geum-min.
City are second in the Women’s Super League, only trailing Chelsea on goal difference.
Liverpool women manager, Matt Beard says his side are enjoying the moment after they maintained their bid to break into the Women’s Super League top four with victory over West Ham women.
Leanne Kiernan prodded the ball into an empty net to put Liverpool ahead late in the first half at Prenton Park.
Missy Bo Kearns and Sophie Roman Haug scored a goal for Liverpool women, while West Ham women’s only goal was scored by Riko Ueki.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields just a day after signing former Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson.
After leaving Denver, Wilson, was set to be Pittsburgh’s new starter after they traded the incumbent Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But now the Steelers have also brought in Fields, the Bears’ starter since being a first-round draft pick in 2021.
OTHER LEAGUES
Bayer Leverkusen have edged closer to the Bundesliga title after three-two victory at Freiburg.
Florian Wirtz put Leverkusen in front after just two minutes but Ritsu Doan levelled for Freiburg.
Adam Hlozek and Patrik Schick scored either side of half-time to give the league leaders a two-goal cushion, with Yannik Keitel claiming a consolation for Freiburg.
The victory kept Xabi Alonso’s side ten points clear at the top of the table, with Freiburg in ninth.
Leverkusen are yet to lose a game across all competitions in 2023-24 and have just eight games left to play in the Bundesliga as they look to claim their first-ever league title.
Rangers are extremely disappointed and angered by the late postponement of their match at Dundee.
The surface was deemed unplayable for a noon start following a second pitch inspection.
It is the fourth game to be called off at Dens Park this season following heavy rainfall.
Rangers go into the international break one point behind Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic, with a game in hand.
Dundee, who have lost both previous meetings with Rangers this term, are seventh in the table.
OTHER SPORTS
In Basketball, Stephen Curry scored 31 points as he helped the Golden State Warriors beat LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers 128-121.
James scored 40 points for the Lakers but could not stop the Warriors leapfrogging them into ninth place in the Western Conference.
The match was marred by lengthy replay delays, with one overturning a three-pointer from James, and multiple shot-clock malfunctions with about two minutes to go.
The Warriors are a percentage point above the Lakers, with both teams in the last two play-in positions in the Western Conference., external
Also, Jalen Brunson scored forty-two points to help the New York Knicks to a 98-91 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 118-112 to move top of the Western Conference, alongside the Denver Nuggets with a 47-20 record.
Jalen Williams scored 23 points and registered seven rebounds and six assists in the Thunder’s win.
In Boxing, Joe Joyce has laboured to a much-needed win over Kash Ali in the 2016 Olympic medallist’s first bout since being knocked out by Zhilei Zhang.
Joyce, who lost his unbeaten record in back-to-back losses to Zhang last year, was expected to overwhelm Ali in the undercard bout in Birmingham.
Joyce struggled to land a finisher on Ali, although he grew in confidence later on, as Ali tired, Joyce eventually brawled to a 10th-round knockout.
With seven seconds remaining of the final round, a short right hand sent Ali to the canvas for the first time.
In Tennis, Carlos Alcaraz has ended Jannik Sinner’s 19-match unbeaten run to set up a final against Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells.
Australian Open winner Sinner was 2-1 up in the first set when the match was interrupted by a three-hour rain delay.
The Italian won the opener when they resumed before Spaniard Alcaraz fought back to claim a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Russia’s Medvedev also came back from a set down to win his semi-final 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 against American Tommy Paul.
Alcaraz will be aiming to win his first title since Wimbledon last year when he takes on Medvedev.
In Cricket, Royal Challengers Bangalore has claimed their first Women’s Premier League title with an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the final in Delhi.
Delhi crumbled from 64-0 to 87-7 and were bowled out for 113 in the 19th over, with Shreyanka Patil taking 4-12.
RCB laboured slightly in their chase of 114 but Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 35 helped them reach their target with three balls to spare.
Delhi lost both finals of the first two WPL tournaments.
In Athletics; Senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice-President, John Coates, is unsure how many Russian athletes will compete as neutral athletes at the Paris Games, but said reports that it might be as low as 40 could be close to the mark.
Under sanctions put in place because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, for which Belarus acted as a staging post, the IOC is allowing only some Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris under tight restrictions.
In Cycling, Great Britain’s Emma Finucane has won the women’s keirin to claim her third gold medal at the Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong.
Finucane rode a superb tactical race and went into the final lap in second place behind Japan’s Mina Sato.
She then went around Sato before powering to the line, with Emma Hinze second and Alina Lysenko third.
Finucane had already won the individual women’s sprint title and women’s team sprint gold at round two of the series.
The final round of the Track Nations Cup will take place will be held in Milton, Canada, from 12th to 14th April.
TODAY’S THOUGHT
securityandsafetymatters 