Author: Peter Noah KC

THE Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has unveiled a former Super Eagles winger and ex-coach of Nigeria’s Under 17 Emmanuel Amuneke as the new coach and technical adviser of Heartland FC. The club is owned by the Imo State Government. According to Governor Uzodimma, the appointment is in line with his administration’s efforts to reposition the club and bring back its lost glory. “I am thrilled to announce that our brother, Mr Emmanuel Amuneke, the celebrated international football legend from Imo State, has been appointed as the Head Coach of Heartland Football Club. Amuneke’s remarkable career has made us incredibly…

NIGERIA’s Favour Ofili was in tears after she stormed to the final of the 200m race in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ofili qualified for the final after picking up the second automatic spot in the race on Monday, reigniting Nigeria’s hopes for a medal at the Games. She finished with a season’s best of 22.05s, falling behind St Lucia’s Julien Alfred – the 100m champion – who crossed the line in a time of 21.98s. The United States Mary Long was in third, finishing in 22:30s. Ofili is the first Nigerian to reach the milestone since Mary Onyali raced to…

THE Nigerian female basketball team, D’Tigress, made history at the Paris Olympics 2024 by qualifying for the last 8, claiming a 79-70 victory over Canada. That feat made them the first ever African team (men or women) to play in the quarter-final of an Olympic game. Nigeria, three-time Women’s Afrobasket Champions faced a tough test in the North Americans ranked 5 in the world A win for the D’Tigress was non-negotiable as they hoped to put behind them the loss to France. First ever African team (Men or Women) to play in #Olympics Quarter-Finals: The first quarter saw both sides…

THE Minister of Sports Development John Enoh has again raised questions about Favour Ofili’s omission for the 2024 Olympics, saying officials of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) have not slept since the discovery. Ofili was supposed to compete in the 100m race at the Games. Her name, was, however, omitted, a development that has raised questions among stakeholders. While giving an update about Ofili’s omission, Enoh said Nigerian officials are working on getting to the root of the matter. “The 100m race got off to a start today, sadly without Favor Ofili. I was on the matter until the early…

THE Super Falcons’ campaign at the Paris Olympics is over. A loss to Japan in their last Group C game condemned them to a disappointing exit from the competition. It was 3-1 in the Asian side’s favour, ending the Super Falcons’ Olympics dreams. Nigeria lost their first two games – Brazil and Spain – but went into Wednesday’s match aiming for a win to reignite their slim chance of making the quarter-finals of the women’s football event of the Olympics. That flicker of hope was, however, extinguished by Japan who scored twice in ten minutes, starting from the 22nd minute,…

THE Super Falcons will hope to end their two consecutive defeats in the women’s football event at the 2024 Paris Olympics when they take on Japan in the final Group C game at the Stade de La Beaujoire – Louis Fonteneau on Wednesday (today). Nigeria and Japan are both targeting a place in the Olympic quarter-finals and a win for either side will do their campaign a lot of good. After two rounds of matches, the Falcons are at the bottom of their group, following back-to-back defeats against Brazil and Spain, while Japan are sitting in second place in Group…

NIGERIA’s D’Tigress have started their Paris 2024 Olympics campaign on an impressive note, stunning world number three Australia in the women’s basketball event of the Games. The Nigerian girls won the Monday basketball encounter 75-62 in the French city of Lille. The D’Tigress had an 11-0 run to end the first half on a good note, getting a 13-point advantage. That proved to be okay to keep the Opals of Australia at bay with Amy Okonkwo getting a triple to make things better for coach Rena Wakama’s charges. Nigeria’s Ezinne Kalu was impressive on the day and fired 19 points,…

NIGERIAN boxer Cynthia Temitayo Ogunsemilore has been suspended from the Paris Olympics for violating an anti-doping rule, the International Testing Agency said Saturday. A sample collected from the boxer “has returned an adverse analytical finding for the specified prohibited substance furosemide,” the ITA said in a statement. Furosemide is classified under “diuretics and masking agents” by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the ITA added. The sample was collected in Paris on Thursday, a day before the Olympics opening ceremony, and reported by a WADA-accredited laboratory on Saturday. “The athlete has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is asking Nigerian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics to remain worthy ambassadors of the country, wishing them well in the competition. Tinubu’s goodwill message came in a Friday statement by his spokesman Ajuri Ngelale. Eighty-eight Nigerian athletes, made up of 63 women and 25 men, will represent Nigeria in 12 sports at the Paris Olympics. “The President assures these bold and courageous ambassadors representing the country of his full support and that of over 200 million Nigerians back home, praying and cheering for their success,” Ajuri said. “On behalf of all Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu sends…

FORMER Super Eagles international, Mikel John Obi has cautioned foreign-born players hoping to have international call-ups not to treat their country of origin as a second option. Obi made this known on his The Obi One podcast on Friday while discussing African talents and their reluctance to represent their fatherland while hoping for other countries to give them a call-up “I’ve talked so much about players not representing their African roots. We’ve held meetings with these kids, with their parents and said, ‘Listen, you are Nigerian, your dad is Nigeria, your mum is Nigerian, why don’t you represent your fatherland,…

THE Super Falcons began their campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on a shaky footing, losing 0-1 to Brazil in their first match. Nigeria came into the game on the back of an impressive showing at the 2023 FIFA World Cup and an eight-game unbeaten run. They started the match well, missing a couple of chances to have taken the lead in the French city of Bordeaux. Many thought the team would go into the tunnel with the lead or at least all square with the South Americans. But Gabi Nunez finished off finely with about eight minutes to…

IT will be a battle of two continental giants when Nigeria take on Brazil in their Paris 2024 Olympics Women’s Football Tournaments Group C opener starting at 19: 00 at Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux, France Games on Thursday (today). Undoubtedly, both countries are the undisputed giants of their continents, going by their achievements and will face each other looking to make a winning start to their campaign. While the Super Falcons have dominated African women’s football, winning 11 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations titles, the Seleção have won the Copa América eight of the nine times the tournament has…

ONDO State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has constituted a new board for the Ondo State Football Agency—the supervising body of Nigeria Premier Football League side Sunshine Stars—just as the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule has dissolved the management of newly promoted Nasarawa United ahead of the 2024/25 season. In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ebenezer Adeniyan, which was obtained by our correspondent, Aiyedatiwa appointed former Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development in Ondo State, Bamidele Ologunlowuwa, as the new chairman of ODSFA. “The Governor of Ondo State, Hon Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, has approved the…

THE Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) has announced Africa’s number one badminton player, Anuoluwapo Opeyori, as the General Team Captain for Nigeria in the Paris Olympics. Opeyori, a standout athlete who has made history as the first Nigerian player to qualify back-to-back for the Olympics will lead and inspire the Nigerian contingent throughout the Games. He won the African Championships and African Games in the singles event in 2019. He also won gold in the men’s single at the 2023 African Games, and a silver medal in the men’s single at Accra 2023. The new General Team Captain was in Tokyo…

AKWA United player and 2023/24 Nigeria Premier Football League Rookie of the Season, Sani Suleiman, has joined two-time Slovakian champions AS Trenčín on a two-year deal, as per All Nigeria Soccer. Suleiman, 17, has signed a pre-contract with the club, which will be activated in September when he turns 18. He joined Akwa United in January from Wikki Tourists and scored 11 goals in 19 appearances to help the Promise Keepers avoid relegation. Suleiman’s impressive performance in the NPFL earned him two nominations for the League Bloggers Award (Player of the Season and Rookie of the Season). He lost the…

FORMER Arsenal midfielder, Alex Iwobi, has released his debut single. By this feat, Iwobi joins the likes of Davido, Wizkid and others in the Nigerian music industry. The single titled, “Don’t Shoot”, was produced by the Nigeria International with fellow footballers Chuba Akpom and Medy Elito. In an interview with Standard Sport, the Fulham player said although his main focus would continue to be football, making music gives him the freedom of being someone else. He described music as “a certain way of just expressing yourself and letting yourself be.” The track’s lyrics, according to Iwobi, was aimed at encouraging…

ISRAEL Adesanya and Asisat Oshoala are two of five Nigerians included in ESPN’s list of the greatest African athletes of the 21st century. Oshoala made the cut as a six-time African women’s player of the year winner, while Adesanya was a former UFC middleweight champion currently striving to reclaim his title. ESPN recently released a list of African talent who have made significant contributions in various sports. Oshoala is famous for her remarkable success at club and country levels, as well as her leadership in women’s football in Africa. Former Super Falcons striker and four-time African Women’s Player of the…

THE Secretary-General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Tunde Popoola, has said that Nigeria’s medal hopes at the Paris Olympics largely rest on female athletes such as Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume. Despite participating in the Olympics since 1952, Nigeria has only secured a total of 27 medals, including just two gold medals, both won in 1996 in Atlanta. This remains the country’s most successful outing, with Chioma Ajunwa winning gold in the women’s long jump and the football team, led by Kanu Nwankwo, clinching the second at the expense of super powers Argentia and Brazil. “The men dominated previously, but…

THE Minister of Sports Development, Sen John Owan-Enoh, on Thursday, said the Federal Government has approved more than N12 billion as the budget for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Owan-Enoh also told newsmen in Abuja that preparations for the games was on top gear. This newspaper reports that the Paris Olympics is scheduled to hold from July 26 to Aug. 11 in France. Similarly, the Paralympics is expected to be held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8. According to Owan-Enoh, all hands are on deck to ensure that the approved funds are released to the athletes as soon as…

NIGERIA’s Super Eagles have dropped again by one spot in the FIFA World Ranking to place world 39th in the July ranking. In the ranking table by the world football governing body, the Nigerian team still maintained the 1,498.93 it had in June. The team suffered a massive drop in the June ranking from 30th to 38th after lacklustre performances in the World Cup Qualifying matches. The drop on the global stage in July however did not affect the team’s position on the continental stage as the 5th behind Morocco, Senegal, Egypt and Cote d ‘Ivoire. On the global scene,…