Sunday 3 November 2013

Ubah praises ex-internationals

Austin Okocha

I won’t make same mistakes against Sweden –Eaglets keeper

Ghana set for Lagos Swimming Classics

Ghana have become the first foreign team to confirm their participation in this week’s Lagos International Swimming Classics.

Championship coordinator, Babatunde Fatai-Williams, told our correspondent that Ghana was among the six foreign teams expected at the tournament at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, from November 7 to 11.

He said the Main Organising Committee for the classics was expecting entries from the other countries, while most of the national champions in Nigeria had already entered for the four-day competition.

Golden Eaglets coach Manu Garba

I will beat Tetteh – Emenogu

November 4, 2013 by Kazeem Busari Leave a Comment

Davidson Emenogu

Nigerian boxer, Davidson Emenogu, (16-1, 10 KO) insists he is ready to spill blood for the vacant WBO International light middleweight title when he squares up against Ghana’s Ishmael Tetteh on November 16 in Southampton, England.

Davidson is current WBO African light middleweight champion, Australia light middleweight champion and Pan Pacific light middleweight champion.

A packed bill will see Davidson fight for the title, which is now vacant after he was stripped of it having failed to defend it in over a year.

Davidson opted to defend the WBO title in Nigeria but several factors prevented the fight. If he beats Tetteh, he will get a top 10 ranking with the WBO, which puts him in the position for a world title tilt in the future.

Kelechi Iheanacho

Uruguay coach Fabian Coito admitted Nigeria were too good for his side after their 2-0 defeat in the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

Taiwo Awoniyi scored one goal in either half from two Kelechi Iheanacho’s assists as Uruguay struggled to get the ball forward under a barrage of quick attacks from the Nigerians.

Coito told Gulf News on Sunday, “Nigeria deserved this victory and they move to the next stage of this competition with a good chance. They have a strong team and players with very good skills for this age group.

UK scraps £3,000 visa bond

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
| credits: File copy

Born on March 15, 1989, Olamide never hesitates to promote his roots, Bariga, Lagos, in his music. In 2010 he hit the limelight when he dropped the lead single from his debut album, Eni Duro, which transformed him into an emerging voice on the Nigerian music scene.
Overnight, the final year student of Mass Communication from Tai Solarin University became the beautiful bride as he was courted by established acts for collabos before breaking away from his mentor, ID Cabasa, and starting his own label, YBNL Nation.

Mehsud

A drone strike which killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has been seen by many groups in Pakistan as US’s way of derailing planned peace talk with Tehreek-e-Taliban.

Following this development, the Pakistani government has summoned the US ambassador to protest the drone strike. The country’s Foreign Office said in a statement on Saturday that the strike was “counter-productive to Pakistan’s efforts to bring peace and stability to Pakistan and the region”.
The interior minister echoed that sentiment and said that the drone strike was a “murder of peace”.
“The government of Pakistan does not see this strike as a strike on an individual, but on the peace process,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar told Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper.

A state of emergency in Tunisia, which has been in place since the 2011 uprising following a political crisis and violence associated with armed groups has been extended by eight months.
The presidency made the announcement on Sunday and said the state of emergency would be extended until the end of June 2014.

Tennis | WTA

Unheralded Romanian Simona Halep is vowing to keep the fun factor in her game following her victory in the Tournament of Champions on Sunday at the end of a breakthrough season on the women's tour.
The 22-year-old won the season-ending event in Sofia on Sunday, beating former US Open champion Samantha Stosur 2-6 6-2 6-2 in a thrilling final to cap a remarkable six months which has lifted her to number 11 in the world rankings.
After a mediocre start to the year, Halep caught fire in June, winning titles at Nurnberg, Den Bosch and Budapest, then adding crowns at New Haven and Moscow to become the only player to taste success on three different surfaces this season.
With increasing success comes more expectation, but Halep, who came from 3-0 down in the final set against Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals, said she was not going to make ambitious plans at the expense of enjoying her time on court.

Football | Nigeria

Omatsone Aluko © Action Images

Hull City manager, Steve Bruce, admitted in September that he had a gem within his ranks in the shape of Nigerian midfielder, Omatsone Aluko.
Aluko began the 2013/14 Barclays English Premier League season like a house on fire as he put in impressive performances week after week for the Tigers.
He started the first eight league games played by Hull and was a joy to watch most of the time.
The apex of his performances was recorded on September 29 at St James’ Park where he fired home a phenomenal volley to inspire a 3-2 victory against Newcastle United.
That performance, more than any got Bruce purring afterwards about the virtues of his 24-year-old charge.

Football | Africa

Hassan Shehata has predicted that Ivory Coast ,Algeria and Nigeria have the best chances to qualify for the 2013 Brazil World Cup from Africa.
Ivory Coast will play against Senegal ,while Nigeria will host Ethiopia and Algeria, Burkina Faso.
"Ivory Coast are now in their best form and they can beat any team so they will not have any difficulty to qualify " Shehata said to Supersport.com
" Nigeria did well in the first match and they have young players with enough experience to lead them to World Cup. The second match will be in Nigeria and that will be very tough for the Ethiopian team who don't have the same experience and I don't expect any surprise out of Calabar"
" Meanwhile the Algerian team have has the best luck from all the Arabian teams and even though they lost their first match 2-3. They however scored two goals there and that's very good and now the Foxes have the best team they have had for a long time and with their massive fan support they will be hard to beat.”

Football | Super Eagles

Head coach of the Nigeria national team, Stephen Keshi has moved to explain the reasons behind the recall handed to midfielder, Gabriel Reuben.
The 23-year-old was handed a shock recall to the Super Eagles on Sunday as Keshi unveiled a 25-man-squad to face Ethiopia and Italy in international fixtures on November 16 and 18 respectively.
Reuben has not played a single minute of action in any competition for Scottish club, Kilmarnock this season and not a few eyebrows were raised when Keshi announced that the former Kano Pillars man had been asked to return to the national team.
Keshi has now exclusively told supersport.com that he made the right decision in handing a recall to Reuben.

Football | Ghana

In South Africa, Edwin Gyimah played 90 minutes for SuperSport United in their 3-0 loss to Platinum Stars in the ABSA Premiership.
Yakubu Mohammed and Frank Sarfo Gyamfi both played for Maritzburg United as they drew 0-0 with Bloemfontien Celtic on Sunday.
Frank Acheampong was an 85th replacement for Fabrice N’Sakala in Anderlecht’s 3-1 victory over OH Leuven on Saturday in Belgium.
Genk’s 3-2 away victory at Mons saw Bernard Kumordzi play 90 minutes for the club. Nana Kwesi Asare and Daniel Opare faced each other when Gent lost by a lone goal to Standard Liege. Both players played the full length of the game.
Derek Boateng was an unused sub for Fulham in their 3-1 home loss to Manchester United on Saturday.

Zambia U17 girls held by SA

Football | Zambia

The Zambia U17 girls team and their South African counterparts played out a 3 – 3 draw in the first leg of the second qualification round of the African qualifiers of the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup played at Nkoloma Stadium on Sunday.
Ireen Lungu opened the scoring on 15 minutes when she drove in a powerful shot from a free-kick which Juliet Sethole failed to handle comfortably, the force behind the ball making her drop the ball into her own net.

Football | Super Eagles

Haruna Lukman © Shengolpix

Nigerian international, Lukman Haruna is unhappy to have been snubbed by Super Eagles' gaffer, Stephen Keshi for a World Cup playoff against Ethiopia and the friendly duel with Italy.
Haruna, who plays his club football for Dynamo Kiev has been on superlative form for his Ukrainian club this term and had hoped he would make the November 16 World Cup playoff return leg clash against Ethiopia in Calabar.
Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi had earlier hinted that he could hand a recall for Haruna, Hull City winger Sone Aluko and Gabriel Reuben.
But it was only Reuben who last two seasons played for Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars made the list released on Sunday.

Nigerians await solar eclipse today

November 3, 2013 by Allwell Okpi 13 Comments

Annular solar eclipse

Nigerians on Saturday said they were awaiting the annular solar eclipse, which would be seen in various parts of the world, including Nigeria today.

The Nigerians, who spoke to from different parts of the country, said they would not miss the opportunity of viewing the eclipse.

A Lagos-based photographer, Emmanuel Arewa, said he had decided to go out with his camera to take a photograph of the eclipse.

“When the last eclipse happened in Nigeria, I was not into photography. I was in school then. If I remember what happened then, I regret not taking photographs of it. So, this time around, I will go out with my camera because I must not miss a shot of it,” he said.

Mr. Marcel Egbuta, a banker, who is based in Mubi, Taraba State, and most people in the state would watch the eclipse.

He said, “We are not aware of it. We are still trying to ensure that we are secure from attacks. But now that you have told me, I will tell my people and we will watch out for it.”

An Enugu-based banker, Ngozi Nwachukwu, said she heard about it but did not know that it could be viewed in Nigeria.

According to www.timeanddate.com, partial eclipse will be visible in Lagos by 12:50pm, when the moon would touch the edge of the sun.

It added that by 2:32pm, maximum eclipse would occur and the moon would be seen closest to the centre of the sun, and another partial eclipse by 4:01pm, when the moon would leave the edge of the sun.

The website also stated other dates when eclipse would be visible from Lagos, including April 15, 2014, (total lunar eclipse), October 8, 2014 (total lunar eclipse), April 4, 2015 (partial lunar eclipse) and September 28, 2015 (total lunar eclipse).

According to www.earthsky.org, proper eye protection is needed to view the eclipse.

EFCC, ICPC scared to probe Oduah — Investigation

Ms. Stella Oduah

I’ll reply Atiku in my book – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun

Now this has to be the highest level of joblessness or should i call it an obsession.
A young lady, who goes by the name, Vanessa Sky Ellis has dedicated her entire life to taking photos of herself with famous people.
Vanessa spends nothing less than 12 hours a day hunting for celebrities around her hometown of New York and has so far collected a whopping 10,000 photographs with stars like Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp and Cher.

Apparently, it seems 27 is the magic number this year. Iyanya turned 27 a couple of days ago and threw a very big party; now it’s the aboki’s turn.
Rapper Ice Prince turned 27 on October 30th and his management team and record label, Chocolate City, hosted him to a lavish party at Spice Bar in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Tennis | ATP

Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated defending champion David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday to win the Paris Masters after a thrilling final at the Bercy arena.
The Spaniard twice served for both sets only for the six-time Grand Slam winner to show his pedigree and break at the crucial moments before holding serve to close out the first set and then the match.
Ferrer fell short of becoming the first player to successfully defend the Paris title while Djokovic took another step towards regaining the No 1 spot from Rafael Nadal heading to the World Tour Finals.
It was also Djokovic's 40th ATP title victory, the 15th player to reach this milestone.
"I'm full of joy right now and this is one of the biggest weeks of the tennis season so I'm really happy and just want to continue like this," said the 26-year-old Serbian.
"This win has given me a lot of confidence and we'll see now what happens in London," he added in reference to the World Tour Finals where he still has a chance to take the world No 1 spot from Nadal.

Football | Zambia

Nkana coach Masauso Mwale said he is not disappointed with Saturday’s draw against Zesco United, that delayed their crowning for at least another two more games.
A win over Zesco would have confirmed Nkana as 2013 FAZ Super League champions for a record 12th time, and also see them pick up their first crown since 2001.
The draw lifts Nkana to 55 points, and still four points ahead of second placed Zesco with two games left to play.
“I am not disappointed because we are playing against a team that was also playing for something,” Mwale said.

Football | Absa Premiership

Bloemfontein Celtic and Maritzburg United played to a goalless draw at the Kaizer Sebothelo Stadium on Sunday afternoon in their Absa Premiership encounter.
The match was an ironic encounter on both benches with Celtic now being coached by the experienced German mentor Ernst Middendorp and Clinton Larsen now heading the United dug-out. Both men were long time coaches of their opponents as recent as last month.
The Maritzburg duo of Bandile Shandu and Ayanda Nkosi missed the match through matric and university exams while Rheece Evans was out injured. Exciting youngster Thapelo Morena made his PSL debut for Celtic up front.
Celtic could have taken the lead in the second minute of the match when two United defenders went to sleep and allowed Vuyani Ntanga to sneak in, but his shot from close range was saved by goalkeeper Shu-Aib Walters with brilliant reflexes.

Football | Barclays Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur and Everton prevented each other from climbing to second place in the Premier League table after an open-ended 0-0 draw at Goodison Park on Sunday.
Tottenham had the better of the first half, with Everton creating more clear-cut chances in the second, while each team had a penalty claim rejected either side of halftime.
A head injury to Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who managed to complete the game, yielded nine minutes of stoppage time, but neither side was able to land a knockout punch.
"The result is fair and with a bit more luck, we could have gone ahead in the first half," said Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas, who revealed that Lloris had momentarily lost consciousness.
"It was a good point in the end. We could have gone second but, considering Everton's aspirations, it was important to get a point."

Football | Super Eagles

Super Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi has invited 25 players to prosecute the World Cup play-offs reverse fixture against Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia as well as the friendly tie against Italy in London.
First comes the 2014 Fifa World Cup final qualifying match against the Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar on Saturday, November 16 and two days later the African champions take on four-time world champions Italy at the Craven Cottage ground of English Premiership club, Fulham FC in a high-profile friendly in London.
Keshi called back brilliant young defender, Kenneth Omeruo, a key component of his 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winning squad as well as the rugged and attack-minded midfielder, Reuben Gabriel.
Both men were out injured for months. Omeruo dislocated a troubled shoulder at the Fifa Confederations Cup in Brazil in the summer while Gabriel will be happy to be fully fit after sitting on the bench all through the Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

Football | Barclays Premier League

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has claimed that he signed a contract to succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2002.
The Swede, who coached England between 2001 and 2006, made the claim in his new autobiography, in which he also revealed that he clashed with Ferguson over Wayne Rooney's participation at the 2006 World Cup.
Ferguson announced that he would step down as United manager in 2002 and although he later reversed his decision, Eriksson says he struck a deal with the club to replace the Scot.
In an extract from his book published in British newspaper the Mail on Sunday, Eriksson wrote: "I knew it would be tricky. I had a contract with England until the 2006 World Cup and I would be severely criticised if I broke that contract.
"But this was an opportunity to manage Manchester United. A contract was signed – I was United's new manager."

Football | Zambia

Nkana’s hopes of sealing the 2013 FAZ Super League title today were delayed after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home in Kitwe by second placed Zesco United.
The league leaders home game came just 24 hours after they were penalized with a 3-0 loss for their part in the abandoned Week 27 game away to Konkola Blades on October 27.
However, Nkana managed to win a late reprieve not to play behind closed doors today, and had fans in attendance at Nkana Stadium in Kitwe.