Author: Peter Noah KC

NIGERIA on Wednesday lost out in the joint bid with Benin Republic to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with the joint bid by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania clinching the hosting right. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also announced that Morocco will stage the 2025 edition. Morocco last hosted the AFCON in 1988 and was chosen in 2015 but asked for the tournament to be postponed because of the Ebola virus, although CAF later decided to strip the north African nation of the hosting rights. While Morocco were hot favourites to host the 2025 edition of the premier…

THE 20 clubs in the Nigeria Premier Football League will get a take-off grant of N10m each as the organisers announced that the 2023/24 season will begin Saturday September 30 after double postponements, just as the prize money for the season has been increased from N100m to N150m. This comes almost three weeks after its last postponement, which was indefinite. In a circular sent to all the clubs and signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the league, Davidson Owumi, which was obtained by our correspondent, the NPFL board said the league was commencing with the hope of securing the…

THREE years ago, Peacemaker Azuegbulam lost his left leg when his Nigerian army unit came under fire from Boko Haram jihadists in the north of the country. Now Azuegbulam is an African champion. Last month, Azuegbulam won gold in the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany — the first Nigerian and the first African to secure the top prize in the games. “I feel great to become the first champion in Invictus Games from Africa,” he told AFP in Abuja. “Invictus means unconquered, we are still unconquered because we are still alive.” Started in 2014, the Invictus Games were founded by…

NIGERIA emerged as the overall champion of the 2023 ITTF African Para Championships which ended on Saturday, September 23, 2023, in Giza, Egypt. The three-day tournament had hosts – Egypt – Algeria, Nigeria, Mauritius, Cameroon, South Africa, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire competing in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. Nigeria carted home 12 gold medals to dethrone Egypt as the new para table tennis champion in Africa. The Nigerians asserted themselves as the new heavyweights in the continent’s para table tennis by dominating the singles event to pick up most of the tickets to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.…

THE Nigeria Curling Federation has inducted Mrs Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, as the first Grand Matron of the federation in the country. Giving her acceptance speech at her Abuja residence on Tuesday, Mrs Jonathan said she was honoured to be installed as the first Grand Matron of the association. The former First Lady expressed her willingness to throw her weight behind the team for global recognition as she pledged support in the upcoming games in South Korea. Played on ice, curling is typically an indoor sport. It involves two teams of four players each, who…

THE presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Judgment of the Presidential Election Petition court and the election of President Bola Tinubu. In his notice of appeal, Obi said the Presidential Election Petitions Court erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed the petition he lodged to challenge the outcome of the presidential election. He maintained that the five-member panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, carried out a miscarriage of justice against him, when it held that he…

NIGERIAN table tennis sensation, Quadri Aruna, has retained his title in the men’s singles of the 2023 ITTF African Championships after beating Ahmed Saleh of Egypt in the final match played on Sunday. Aruna, the tournament’s number one seed, overwhelmed Saleh with a convincing 4-0 win to hold on to last year’s title won in Algeria. But there were mixed feelings for Aruna in Tunis, having missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games ticket through injury at the same venue. “I am happy with the title because I have a good and bad memory of Tunis, having got injured here during…

NIGERIAN track queen Tobi Amusan has won the 100m hurdles at the Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon, US. The Sunday feat is her third consecutive Diamond League trophy. Amusan achieved this after finishing in 12.33 seconds to see off competition from Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quin in 12.38 seconds. US Kendra Harrison came third in the race. In 2021, the Nigerian made history with her first Diamond League Trophy, clocking 12.42 seconds. She thereafter clinched it in a time of 12.29 seconds in Zurich last year. But the latest feat comes months after the Nigerian was suspended for doping violations by…

THREE Nigerian boxers have booked their spots at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after winning their bouts in the final of the Africa Olympic Boxing qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal on Friday. Nine boxers travelled to Dakar to represent Nigeria at the qualifiers, eight advanced to the quarter-finals, and six made it to the semi-final of the competition while three qualified for the final and all three claimed gold medals after beating their opponents. The journey to glory began with a monumental clash as Cynthia Ogunsemilore squared off against Algeria’s Khelif Hadjila in the Women’s 60kg category. The Nigerian powerhouse left…

ALL 24 countries that will trade tackles at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire have sealed qualification for the tournament. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that five-time AFCON champions Cameroon on Tuesday spanked Burundi 3-O to complete the star studded list of qualified teams. A breakdown of the qualified countries shows that 12 former AFCON champions, including three-time champions Nigeria will be on parade come January, 2024. Hosts, Cote d’Ivoire will be leading a strong West African contingent of 11 countries, including holders Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso among others. Tanzania representing East Africa returns…

INDIVIDUAL clout and national pride are set to be tested to the limit from September 12th to 17th as Africa’s best players descend on Tunis, the Tunisian capital, to slug it out for places in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the World Championships. It is the second major, senior continental tournament this year after the African Cup held in Nairobi, Kenya and the stakes are higher as the winners in the team and mixed doubles events will automatically pick tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The top four countries in the team event will also secure continental places…

CRISTIANO Ronaldo’s luxury Pestana CR7 Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco has become a refuge site for victims of Friday’s earthquake, according to reports from Spanish newspaper, Marca. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the mountainous High Atlas region of the North African nation leaving at least 2000 people dead and several wounded according to multiple reports. Amidst the tragedy, a number of Marrakech-based organisations and businesses have offered assistance to those affected by the quake. One of them is, a hotel owned by Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo. Reports suggest that the luxury hotel is providing shelter to those who have lost their homes.…

THE Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) has explained that they did not write the judgment delivered by the Presidential Election Petitions Court which on Wednesday upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu. There have been widespread rumours that certified copies of the judgment by the five-member panel of justices led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, which have the headers with the TPLT on each page were written and handed the justices by the team. But in a statement on Saturday, the coordinator of the TPTL, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), said the lawyers behind the insinuations know that they are untrue, unkind, unfair,…

THE Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) board has unveiled the Strategic Direction and Action Plan for the growth of women’s football in the country ahead of the start of the 2023/2024 season. NWFL Chairman Nkechi Obi said on Thursday that the strategic plan is in tune with the rise in the popularity of women’s football as one of the world’s fastest-growing sports with an increasing record of corporate sponsorship, audience and match day attendance. Obi believed the increasing opportunities for Nigerian players to play professional football across the world have necessitated the creation of a career pathway for the talents…

THE kickoff date for the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) 2023/24 campaign has been postponed again. NPFL Board announced the postponement in a statement on Wednesday. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the NPFL, Davidson Owumi, made the move after consultations with stakeholders. “We have everything set for the kickoff in Ibadan on Saturday but following representations from multiple stakeholders and more cogent is the complex logistics involved in having our Chairman and Clubs leadership travel from Ibadan to Uyo,” Owumi said. “Note therefore that there will be no flag-off game this Saturday, September 9 as originally planned,” the statement…

FORMER World 100m hurdles champion, Tobi Amusan, and 400m hurdler, Ezekiel Nathaniel have secured their spots at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France. Last December, World Athletics revealed the pathway to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024, including the entry standards athletes will need to achieve between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024. Amusan became the first Nigerian athlete to secure her place at the Games. She achieved this feat at the BAUHAUS-Galan Diamond League event in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 2, where she clocked an impressive 12.52secs in the 100m hurdles race at the Olympia stadion. The…

THE experienced quartet of Dickson Ugochukwu, Perpetual Nwanna, Khadijat Folawiyo and Sekinat Alawode retained their titles as the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria concluded its one-day Push Championship at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos on Sunday. Ugochukwu defeated others to emerge Brakeman champion, while Alawode equally retained her Women’s Brakeman title. Folawiyo edged others to maintain her dominance in Women’s Skeleton title and Nwanna finished well to lead others in Women’s Bobsled Driver event. Thirty nine athletes participated in the Push Championship to indicate the popularity of the sport in Nigeria. Technical director of the Federation, Seun Adigun…

FOUR-TIME Nigeria Basketball League champions, Rivers Hoopers, defeated Spintex Knights 74-56 in the final of the Louis Edem Invitational Basketball Championship to be crowned champions. The Knights have now been beaten by Hoopers three times in a row. The first edition of the Louis Edem tournament in February this year and twice this week. Mustapha Oyebanji, who was awarded the most valuable player, shot 16 points, including four three-pointers, in the final. Oyebanji dropped back-to-back threes at the start of the first quarter, followed by two foul throws by Michael Daramola, as the KingsMen made an 8-0 run. The former…

THE Federal Government’s expenditure exceeded revenue by N1.43tn in the first three months of 2023, according to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The CBN revealed in its economic report for the third quarter of 2023 obtained by The PUNCH on Friday that this was 9.6 per cent higher than the last quarter of 2022 figure. It stated, “The fiscal operations of the FGN in 2023, Q1, resulted in a deficit. At N1.43tn, the provisional fiscal deficit of the FGN was 9.6 per cent higher than the level in the preceding quarter but 22.1 per cent below the…

THE Handball Federation of Nigeria has called up 18 players to camp ahead of next month’s African Women Youth Handball Nations Championship. The players are expected to report to camp at the Rowe Park training centre in Yaba Lagos. The 19th Africa Women’s Youth Handball Nations Championship will take place from September 16 to 23 in Monastir, Tunisia and serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Youth Handball World Cup. According to the federation, 14 players who participated in the IHF Challenge Trophy were invited to the Nation’s Cup. Top on the list is captain Esther Matthew of Seasiders Babes…