NIGERIA
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The Nigerian hurdles sensation, Tobi Amusan has won the gold medal in the women’s one hundred metre hurdles at the
African Games 2023 on Wednesday.
It is Amusan’s third straight gold medal in the African Games one hundred metre hurdles.
The former world athletic champion clocked a time of 12.89 seconds to retain her title.
Nigeria’s other athlete in the final, Faith Osamuyi narrowly missed out on a podium finish as she ran 13.77 seconds to
finish in fourth place.
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Team Nigeria’s Esther Joseph has won silver in the women’s four hundred metre at the ongoing African Games in
Accra, Ghana.
Joseph placed second in a new personal best of 51.61 seconds behind Mary Moraa of Kenya.
Moraa, who is the eight hundred metre champion, won the gold after clocking 50.57 seconds.
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Coach Chris Musa Danjuma is expectedly sanguine following his Nigeria U20 girls’ progress to the final of the women’s
football event of the ongoing 13th African Games in Ghana.
The experienced tactician watched with delight as substitutes Judith Adaobi Okah and Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, off the
bench, provided the goals that sent Uganda’s U20 packing and sent the defending champions to the final against hosts
Ghana on Thursday night.
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Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie won gold medal in the men’s 400m with a personal best time of 45.06 seconds at the African
Games on Wednesday.
It was the fastest time by a Nigerian athlete in nine years.
Okezie defeated one of the world’s fastest men, Muzala Samukonga of Zambia, who clocked 45.37 seconds for silver,
while Diouf Tidiane of Senegal was third in 45.49 seconds.
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The four-man contingent of Team Nigeria to the Sambo event of the 13th African Games in Ghana claimed one gold,
one silver and one bronze medal.
Sambo, which is one of the seven demonstration sports among the 30 sports listed for the Games, had Nigeria
compete against Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,
Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger Republic, Togo and hosts Ghana.
It was James Chegwam that first earned a bronze medal for Nigeria in the men’s 58kg while Jonah Kajido narrowly
missed out from the podium in the men’s 79kg, after losing to his Moroccan counterpart.
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Reigning national 100m champion, Usheoritse Itsekiri, is looking forward to making the cut for the Paris 2024 Olympic
Games after winning silver in the men’s 100m event at the ongoing 13th African Games in Ghana.
Bronze medallist at the previous edition in Rabat in 2019, Itsekiri upgraded in Accra, claiming silver in ten minutes:
twenty-three seconds, behind Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme ten minutes: fourteen seconds.
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Nigeria crashed out of the men’s cricket event of the ongoing African Games in Ghana on Wednesday after a 10-wicket
loss against Zimbabwe in their last group game at the Achimota Cricket Oval.
Needing to put the runs on the board and get the chance to increase their net run rate, the Yellow Greens opted to bat
after captain Sylvester Okpe won the toss.
However, Zimbabwe’s test quality showed in the first innings as they restricted Nigeria to 88 runs for the loss of nine
wickets in 17.4 overs.
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Interim Super Eagles coach Finidi George is optimistic that the team will make the best of the current FIFA break as he
coaches the team for the first time in two friendly games against Ghana and Mali in Morocco on Friday and next
Tuesday.
Nigeria will take on Ghana in the first of the two friendlies on Friday at the Grand Stade de Marrakech before taking on
Mali four days later.
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Twenty-two players are now in Super Eagles’ camp ahead of the international friendlies against the Black Stars of
Ghana and Eagles of Mali.
The remaining expected players arrived the team’s Adam Park Hotel base in Marrakech, Morocco on Wednesday.
The players are; Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Frank Onyeka, Francis Uzoho, Chidozie Awaziem and Bright
Osayi-Samuel.
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Former Nigerian international, Dimeji Lawal has urged Nigerians not to judge Finidi George based on the results of the
two international friendly games the Super Eagles will play against Ghana and Mali.
Lawal stated that the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner was capable of handling the Super Eagles if given the
opportunity.
Finidi who scored six goals in sixty-two appearances in his thirty-one-year international career would lead the Super
Eagles in their friendly matches against rivals, the Black Stars of Ghana and the Eagles of Mali.
He becomes the fifth player from the 1994 AFCON winning squad to coach the Super Eagles after, late Stephen Keshi,
Samson Siasia, Sunday Oliseh and Austin Eguavoen.
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Despite finishing second at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast last month, the Super Eagles suffered a
massive drop in their squad market value.
The three-time African champions dropped down one step and are now ranked the 13th most valuable international
team globally, while retaining their position as the most financially valuable team in Africa.
The Eagles boast players who ply their trade in Europe’s lucrative leagues, making them one of the world’s most
valuable teams, with a total value of five hundred and fifty-five billion naira.
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Luton Town star, Elijah Adebayo has once again reiterated his desire to play for the Super Eagles.
Adebayo who expressed his love for Nigeria, was born in England to Nigerian parents.
He is eligible to represent both Nigeria and England.
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The Nigeria Premier Football League has announced a new date for the matchday 27 tie involving Niger Tornadoes and
Shooting Stars.
The game was initially scheduled for Friday, at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
The encounter will now hold on Monday, at the same venue.
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ENGLAND
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Chelsea Supporters Trust says fans have significant concerns about the club’s future in a lengthy letter to co-owners
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
It said feeling among fans was at its lowest since the early 1980s and was close to irreversible toxicity.
Despite a record outlay on players since the new owners took over in 2022, Chelsea are 11th in the Premier League.
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Tottenham forward Richarlison says seeking psychological help saved his life and urged others with mental health
issues to do the same.
The Brazil international, said he was at rock bottom but therapy helped him to turn things around.
He scored nine goals in his past thirteen Spurs games and could reach fifty Brazil caps in upcoming friendly games
against England and Spain.
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Liverpool’s newly appointed sporting director Richard Hughes says it is the present and future which really excites him
about the club.
Hughes will officially take up the role when he leaves his post as Bournemouth’s first-team technical director at the end
of the season.
Hughes has been headhunted by former Reds sporting director Michael Edwards, who was recently appointed as chief
executive of football at FSG, who own Liverpool.
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Former Arsenal winger, Paul Merson says football is ravaged with gambling and the bans given to Ivan Toney and
Sandro Tonali are a disgrace.
Merson said he was a compulsive gambler during his playing days and that it was a hidden addiction because it was
hard for people to spot.
Toney was banned for eight months for 232 breaches of betting rules while Tonali’s 10-month ban ends in August.
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Arsenal defender, Takehiro Tomiyasu has signed a new two-year contract.
The Japan international, whose current deal was due to expire in 2025, has committed until 2026, with the option of a
further year.
Tomiyasu played seventy-three games in all competitions for the Gunners since joining from Bologna in 2021.
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Newcastle United defender, Sven Botman is expected to be out for six to nine months after a scan revealed he needs
surgery on a knee injury.
The Netherlands international injured his anterior cruciate ligament in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Manchester City and
had to be substituted late on.
The centre-back will have surgery next week.
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A football fan Michael Bernard Avery has been charged in connection with tragedy chanting at the Manchester United
versus Liverpool FA Cup quarter-final match.
Avery, from Manchester, was charged with a public order offence and bailed.
It followed an investigation by Greater Manchester Police after a video was shared of a man in the home section of the
Old Trafford crowd.
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England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley has turned down the opportunity to become the new Republic of Ireland manager.
Carsley, who won forty Republic of Ireland caps, had emerged as the strong favourite to succeed Stephen Kenny.
He has opted to stay in his current role after guiding England Under-21s to a first European Championship in thirty-nine
years last June.
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The Palestine Football Association has called on football’s international governing body, FIFA, to sanction Israeli teams
over the war in Gaza.
The PFA asked for its proposal, which it said six other member nations had endorsed, to be on the agenda at FIFA’s
upcoming congress in May.
Israel’s football association on Wednesday responded to the petition by saying it had always followed FIFA regulations
and always will.
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Russia launched a furious tirade at the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday, arguing the IOC’s restrictions
on Russian athletes and its criticism of the Moscow-organised Friendship Games amounted to “neo-Nazism”.
The IOC on Tuesday barred Russian athletes from taking part in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on
26th July and criticised the Kremlin for planning to hold its own “Friendship Games” to rival those held in the French
capital.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Real Madrid goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois has suffered another serious knee injury, just as he was edging closer to a
return from a ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligament,ACL.
The Belgium international, has had surgery after tearing the meniscus in his right knee in training.
He ruptured the ACL in his left knee in August and has not played this season.
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Police have searched the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation in Madrid as part of a corruption
investigation.
The prosecutor said the operation was part of a wider investigation linked to alleged corruption in business, improper
management of assets and money laundering,
Police were carrying out eleven searches on unspecified locations across Spain.
The prosecutor expected seven people to be arrested.
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A Spanish court has ruled that ex-Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves can be conditionally released from jail after
serving about a quarter of his sentence for rape.
Alves, who was sentenced to four and a half years in prison last month, will be released on a eight hundred and fifty-
three thousand pounds bail.
Alves who had been held in pre-trial detention since January 2023, was found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona
nightclub in December 2022.
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Wales international Wes Burns has been ruled out of the team’s European Championship qualification play-off because
of a hamstring injury.
Winger Burns, limped out of Ipswich Town’s six-nil Championship win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Wales face Finland in Cardiff on 21st March, with a potential final five days later.
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OTHER SPORTS
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In Basketball; Texas and Colorado State are set for a matchup of teams with very different NCAA Tournament
backgrounds.
They meet in a Midwest Region first-round game Thursday night with a chance to enhance their tournament reputation.
Seventh-seeded Texas (20-12) is in the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd time in the last 25 editions of the event.
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In Tennis, Paula Badosa says it will be uncomfortable playing best friend Aryna Sabalenka this week, following the death
of Sabalenka’s boyfriend.
Konstantin Koltsov, a former ice hockey player, died at the age of 42 in Miami in what police have described as an
apparent suicide.
World number two Sabalenka is still set to play in the Miami Open this week and will meet Badosa in the second round.
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Tyson Fury is in the midst of training for an upcoming bout with Oleksandr Usyk, but there is no shortage of potential
challengers for the Gypsy King in the future.
In an interview with Charlie Parsons of The Stomping Ground (starts at 2:05 mark), Fury said “if the money is there” he
will fight anyone when asked about a possible rematch with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
Fury sidestepped a question about a potential bout with Anthony Joshua if he gets past the two fights with Usyk.
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Formula 1’s governing body has cleared its president of claims he interfered with races in Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas
last season.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem was alleged to have intervened to overturn a penalty for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at
the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
A whistleblower claimed the president told officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for last year’s race.
The FIA said there was no evidence to support the claims.
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In Cricket, Laura Delany will become the first Ireland woman to make two hundred international appearances when the
Irish travel to the United Arab Emirates next month for the T20 World Cup qualifier.
The skipper made one hundred and ninety-nine appearances and should reach the two hundred mark in the opening
warm-up game against Thailand.
Ireland will be among ten teams chasing two T20 World Cup spots.
The other teams competing in Abu Dhabi are hosts United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, Scotland,
Thailand, Uganda, USA and Vanuatu.
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In Rugby, Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell remains happy with his decision to step away from England and is focused on
enjoying his rugby again.
The former England captain made himself unavailable for this year’s Six Nations to prioritise his and his family’s mental
wellbeing.
Next season Farrell will join Racing 92 which rules out a possible return.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
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IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING
Poland. vs. Estonia
Wales. vs. Finland
Bos-Herze. vs. Ukraine
Israel. vs. Iceland
Georgia. vs. Luxembourg
Greece. vs. Kazakhstan
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IN INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES
Cyprus. VS. Latvia
Football Union of Russia. VS. Serbia
Belarus. VS. Montenegro
Malta. VS. Slovenia
Portugal. VS. Sweden
Andorra. VS. South Africa
Italy. VS. Venezuela
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TODAY’S THOUGHT
An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head….Says Emil Zatopek.
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