Events

African Volleyball Tourney: Nigeria Defeat Morocco, Target 5th Position Against Algeria

Published

1 month ago

August 24, 2023

SMI

Nigeria defeated Morocco 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 27-25) in the 5th to 8th classification match at the ongoing 2023 African Senior Women’s Nations Volleyball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon on Wednesday.

Nigeria changed their starting team with Aliyat Usman, Kelechi Ndukauba, Happy Wushilang and Blessing Unkwe making the starting six against Morocco. The youthful side produced a wonderful performance coming from a deficit of five points to win by 26 to 24 points.

Coach Samuel Ajayi maintained the same players in the second set as the combination of Ijeoma Ukpabi and Happy Wushilang dismantled the Moroccans. Nigeria led comfortably with the support of the crowd winning by 25 to 21 points.

In the third set, Morocco led by 24 to 22 points before the combination of Aliyat Usman and Kelechi Ndukauba won two sets for Nigeria to equal 24 to 24 points. Ijeoma Ukpabi won Nigeria’s 25 points after which the referee made a controversial call following Happy Wushilang’s spike.

Nigeria tied 25 to 25 points and Aliyat Usman made a fantastic drop to make the score line 26 to 25 points. The game ended in favour of Nigeria with the Algeria position four sending the ball outside the court following her untimed spike.

An elated Samuel Ajayi said, “I am very happy with the victory against Morocco because I had them in mind based on what happened at the last edition of the African Championship in Rwanda where we were unlucky to win the bronze medal.

“Playing Morocco today, I told my players to take their pound of flesh by winning irrespective of playing in the classification match and the players lived up to expectations.”

Ajayi revealed that the players were not under pressure throughout the game against Morocco.

He said, “In the first set, I was not under pressure because they were leading us with four points, and we recovered and got to 20 points. I called for a time out highlighting where we needed to concentrate on and the players yielded to the instructions from the touchline; you say all my demonstrations on the court led to the players paying attention to every word.”

“I believe the players have realised their mistakes, especially the Algeria match (last group stage match) that cost us the pairing with Kenya in the quarterfinals; they were lucky in the group stage.

“We are going to reaffirm our dominance in the 5th position match and take the match seriously. By the special grace of God, Nigeria will have the day”, he added.

Nigeria will face Algeria in the fifth position match on Thursday.

Events

Jos, Plateau Comes Alive As NNL AGA Holds This Friday

Published

15 hours ago

September 29, 2023

SMI

All is set for the Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria National League which is scheduled to hold in the capital city of Plateau state.

Already, stakeholders have started arriving the Tin City for the one-day deliberation.

The AGA which is the first activity of the season will see the NNL board meet with the 40 club representatives to fashion our all formalities for a successful season.

Kickoff date, format, funding and other matters of critical importance will be decided at the assembly.

NNL Chairman George Aluo who is already on the ground, gave further insight on the agenda.

“At the NNL AGA we will be rubbing minds with the club owners, share our thoughts and plans with them and be on the same page and decide when the league will start basically, as that is the most important thing so that after the AGA in Jos, we should be able to tell Nigerians when the league will kickoff.”

He continued, “The President of the NFF Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau has given us a mandate to start the league on time and ensure it aligns with the international calendar and that is the direction we want to go. So we have come up with our own plans and by the time we finish with our AGA in Jos, we’ll tell Nigerians what the plans are and how the league will be played.

He revealed that the board ” has put some plans in place as the NNL has been able to partner with the National Institute for Sports (NIS) for a pre-season capacity building seminar for our coaches. We want to upscale our coaches to make them better. Already, we have invited some resource persons from the NIS and the Technical Director of the NFF Augustine Eguavoen who will be involved in that and a Portuguese coach Thiago Conde so, at the end of the day, we would have upscale our coaches technically and before the start of the season by the time you’ve taken them to the classroom, I’m sure it will rub-off on the NNLas the 2023-2023 season gets underway.”

He appreciated the Plateau state Government for hosting the board as they begin deliberation this Friday.

Events

Colombia 2024: Falconets progress to third round as Mauritius withdraw

Published

2 days ago

September 28, 2023

SMI

The Mauritius Football Association has notified the Confederation of African Football of the withdrawal of the country’s U20 Women National Team from the ongoing African qualifying series for next year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals.

“Kindly note that CAF was informed of the withdrawal of Mauritius FA from the African qualifiers of FIFA U20 WWC 2024. Consequently, Nigeria is qualified to the next round of the competition and the missions of all officials of matches 37 & 38 are cancelled,” read a communication from CAF to the Nigeria Football Federation.

The Falconets were to fly to Mauritius next week for the first leg in Saint Pierre against the Mauritius U20 girls, with the return leg scheduled for the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, 14th October.

With this situation, 2022 World Cup quarter-finalists Nigeria now progress to the next round of the qualification series.

Events

Confed Cup: Insurance players vow to beat RS Berkane for their chief motivator, Obaseki

Published

2 days ago

September 28, 2023

SMI

As Federation Cup champion, Bendel Insurance of Benin plays RS Berkane on Friday in a Caf Confederation Cup match, the players and officials said they are ready to shed blood to win for the good people and government of Edo State especially their number one supporter and motivator Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Though Insurance has a mountain to climb in the decisive leg in Morocco after they were forced to a 2-2 draw by RS Berkane at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, in the first leg on Saturday, September 16, they are confident that will beat their host and qualify for the next round of the competition.

Monday Odigie’s side will miss the services of striker Osarenkhoe Imade, who scored their opener in the first leg as well as their other goal in the last round.

The 22-year-old just penned a deal with United Arab Emirates side, United FC.

Despite missing their highest goal scorer from last season, stand-in captain and goalkeeper, Amas Obasigie, echoed the confidence of the team.

“Knowing the honour that awaits us if we beat our opponents to qualify for the group stage, we are going to fight for everything in the field of play to go home happy. We made two mistakes in Benin and will not want a repeat. We are facing very strong opponents who have been champions twice in a space of three years, but we will not allow their intimidation to affect our play. They should expect a good fight from us the way they also fought in Benin.

“Above all, we want to fight to win for our state Governor, who has been wonderful in giving his all, in sponsorship and motivation that has taken us thus far both in the domestic league and continental level,” Obasogie said.