Category: Sports

Winners of the 2017 #WritingGamesNG Essay Writing Competition

Winners have emerged in the #WritingGamesNG 2017 essay writing competition organised by Goal.com and the University of Sussex.

The competition, which is in its second year, is an avenue for young Nigerians to express their passion for football through critical writing. Leading up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the title of this year’s competition is: “Making Nigerian football attractive in a digital age”. The aim is to explore ideas on how to improve the quality of domestic football both on and off the field using modern technology as well as winning with social media.

Full List of Winners (out of a total of 640 entries received nationwide)

CATEGORY 1 – NYSC/FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATES
NAMES SCORE PLACEMENT
ADEPOJU ADEMOLA  75.5% WINNER
EZEUDUJI OLUCHI ONYINYECHI 72.5% SECOND PLACE
ADEKUNLE FISAYO ADEBAJO 72% THIRD PLACE
AWA JOY CHIDINMA 69% FINALIST
OLUTOBI SOGE 67.5% FINALIST
ADEBISI SAMUEL 66.5% FINALIST
OLAWOLE OLAYINKA 65.5% FINALIST
JONATHAN PRAISE IKECHUKWU 65% FINALIST
OGUNADE BENJAMIN 62% FINALIST
AIKI DAMILOLA 59.5% FINALIST

 

CATEGORY 2 – SS3/SIXTH FORM COLLEGES
NAMES SCORES  PLACEMENT
EMMANUELLA CHISOM JAMES 71% WINNER
CHIWIKE CHIBUZOR MARGARET 67%   SECOND PLACE
OKAFOR OLIVIA AMARACHI  66% THIRD PLACE
EMMANUEL ESOMNOFU 64% FINALIST
AZUBUIKE CHIDERA ESTHER 62.5% FINALIST
ABDULRAZAQ ABDULBASIT 61.5% FINALIST
ABRAHAM EBENEZER EHINOME 61% FINALIST
MIRACLE ELVIS 59% FINALIST
ALAIYE OLUWASEYE ELIZABETH 52% FINALIST

Adepoju Ademola won ₦100,000 and a £500 #WritingGamesNG bursary for the University of Sussex MA in Creative and Critical Writing (2018 entry) while Emmanuella Chisom James receives ₦75,000.

Ezeuduji Oluchi Onyinyechi placed second and Adekunle Fisayo Adebajo finished in third place in Category 1 and while Chiwike Chibuzor Margaret was second and Okafor Olivia Amarachi was third in Category 2. They have won ₦50,000 and ₦25,000 respectively.

The #WritingGamesNG 2017 was supported by the Study Group, CampsBay Media, a sports communication company, NYSC and Writivism.

Adetayo Adetunji Wins 2017 ITF U-18 Junior Circuit Title

Adetayo Adetunji has been crowned  champion of the girls’ singles at ITF U-18 Junior Circuit in Benin Republic following a 6-4, 6-1 win over Linda Elounde of Cameroun.
17-year-old Adetayo Adetunji, who is based in South Africa, was also a quarter-finalist at this year’s Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas in July.
The Nigerian team have now moved to Lome, Togo for the second and third legs of the point-earning tournament featuring over 80 players from 24 countries across the world.
Assistant National Junior coach Abel Ubiebi, who is leading the delegation, expressed satisfaction with the overall performance of the team promising that the lapses noticed in their performance will be fixed.
He declared:

D’Tigers Emerge 2nd At 2017 Afrobasket Championship

Nigeria senior male basketball team D’Tigers have emerged second place winner at the finals of the 2017 Afrobasket Championship. This is after the Team was dethroned as African Champions after a 65-77 defeat to host Tunisia

D’Tigers started the game strongly but the hosts Tunisia put up a fight and prevented the men from replicating the heroics of the D’Tigress.

In the final quarter, the Team were trailing by as many as 15 points but they cut the deficit to eight with three minutes, 31 seconds left but they could not complete the comeback and eventually lost by 65 to 77 points.

Captain Ike Diogu who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player led Nigeria with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Diogu along with teammate Ike Iroegbu were also named in the Afrobasket All-Stars team.

Team Delta Emerge 2017 National Youth Games (NYG) Winner

Defending champions Team Delta has won the third edition of the National Youth Games (NYG), after gathering 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals in Ilorin.

Team Akwa Ibom emerged second with 16 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze medals, while Ondo State finished third with 12 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze medals.

Hosts Kwara, which finished third last year with 8 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze medals dropped one place to fourth with 10 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals.

Ogun State gathered 7 gold, 6 silver and 14 bronze medals to place fifth, while Bayelsa State were in sixth place with 7 gold, 5 silver and 10 bronze medals.

Benue State won 7 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals in 7th place with Kaduna State in 8th position with 6 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals.

Osun State won 6 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals to finish in ninth place.

Niger State completed the list of top 10 states with 6 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals.

FCT garnered 4 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronze medals to finish in 11th position, with Oyo State in 12th place with 3 gold, 2 silver and 10 bronze medals.

Plateau State occupied the 13th position with 2 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze medals, while Anambra State finished 14th with 2 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Kano State ended the competition with 2 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals in 15th place, with Rivers in 16th position with 2 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Kogi State won 2 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze medals to place 17th, while Imo State finished in 18th place with 2 gold and 2 bronze medals.

Ekiti State won only 2 gold in 19th place to push Nasarawa State into 20th position after it gathered 1 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals.

Team Delta State had won the National Youth Games (NYG) second edition at the same University of Ilorin venue with a total of 9 gold, 7 silver and 10 bronze medals.

The Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, said the ministry was working assiduously to improve on the standard of the Games.

The Minister explained that it was in line with this that the number of events would be streamlined to reduce the burden of hosting.

In his words:

“Also, the Games will from the fourth edition in 2018 feature only under-15 athletes, in order for us to be able to fight age falsification.

The Games provides an avenue to bring the youths together under an atmosphere of friendly competition designed to enhance their potentials and all-round development.’’

Results:

Wrestling

Female 48 kg

Gold- Adekuoroye Mercy (Ondo)
Silver- Precious Ayuba (Nasarawa)
Bronze- Prince Preye (Bayelsa)
Bronze- Agatha Peter (Plateau)

Female 53kg

Gold- Kolawole Esther (Ondo)
Silver- Daniel Great (Ebonyi)
Bronze- Joseph Ozioma (Delta)
Bronze- Magret Musa (Kaduna)

Karate

Male – 55 kg

Gold- Bashir Abdulazeez (Kwara)
Silver- Omotayo Agbolade (Delta)
Bronze- Ikobong Uko (Akwa Ibom)
Bronze- Abdulraman Mohammed (Bauchi)

Male – 60 kg

Gold- Peter Emmanuel (Anambra)
Silver- Kelvin Kin (Plateau)
Bronze: Komolafe Moses (FCT)
Bronze: Usman Hussiani (Nasarawa)

Teakwodo

Male – 48 kg

Gold- Ibrahim Aliyu (Kebbi)
Silver-plated Adamu Ismail (Plateau)
Bronze- Okolie Chinedu (Delta)
Bronze- Nelson Ifeoluwa (Osun)

Female – 46 kg

Gold- Chidinma Nwankwo (Ebonyi)
Silver- Blessing Peter (Delta)
Bronze- Amina Mahamud (Plateau)
Bronze- Saadat Mustapha (Ogun)

The 2017 National Youth Games (NYG) which began on September 7 [2017] ended on September 16, 2017 in Ilorin.

Odunayo Adekuoroye Elected Into UWW Athletes Commission [2017]

Odunayo Adekuoroye has been elected into the United World Wrestling (UWW) Athletes Commission.

Odunayo Adekuoroye was among the seven people elected to represent the interest of athletes in the UWW. The wrestlers were voted onto the commission by their fellow athletes at the 2017 Senior World Wrestling championships last month in Paris.

In the words of Odunayo Adekuoroye:

“Honestly, I am very delighted that the NWF nominated me and with the recognition by UWW, it is a great privilege for me to serve.

I am excited because my president and my coach have always believed in my capabilities to excel. They are a veritable source of encouragement to me.”

According to Daniel Igali, President, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF):

“She was the first Nigerian to win a silver medal at the world championships, thereby surpassed fellow Nigerian, Ifeoma Ihenacho who won bronze medals in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
The election took place at the last world championships.
The NWF had no reservations in forwarding her as a candidate for the athletes commission position and we were not disappointed.
This shows the steady progress we are making as a federation in all facets of sports development.

We hope Adekuoroye will make valuable contributions to the athletes commission and in uplifting the welfare of athletes on the world stage.’’

In the commission’s first act, four-time world champion and 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs was selected to chair the commission. Burroughs will be a voting member of the United World Wrestling bureau and replaces 2008 Olympic champion Carol Huynh (CAN), who has served in the role since it was first established in 2013.

The Athletes Commission was established in 2013 with the role of protecting the rights and interests of all United World Wrestling Olympic style athletes. The Athletes Commission members reach out and communicate with active athletes as peers to collect feedback.

Plateau United FC Emerge 2016/2017 NPFL Champions

Plateau United FC have emerged the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) champions after defeating Enugu Rangers 2-0 at the Rwang Pam Stadium in Jos. Plateau United also pocketed ₦50 million having finished as champions.

Plateau United FC finished with 66 points from 38 fixtures, finishing four points ahead of second-placed MFM FC.

The Kennedy Boboye tutored side’s championship victory is their first ever league title and the 19th Nigeria league champions.

Plateau United FC will represent Nigeria in next year’s CAF Champions League along with runners-up MFM FC, who lost 2-1 at El Kanemi Warriors.

Seven-time champions Enyimba finished third spot after a 1-0 success over Katsina United.

Akwa United ended up in fourth place.

Anthony Okpotu finished the season as NPFL top scorer.

Nigerian Athletes Emerge Supreme At The African Masters Athletics Championships [2017]

16 Nigerian athletes have emerged overall winner at the 2017 African Masters Athletics Championships in Cote d’Ivoire by winning 31 gold and eight silver medals.

The championships was held from August 25-27, 2017.

Safiya Yahaya-Kongoila, who represented the country for the first time, won four gold medals for the country.

Cote d’Ivoire emerged second, winning 15 gold, nine silver and four bronze medals, followed by Tunisia with five gold medals.

Countries that featured at the event were Algeria, Barbados, Egypt, Burundi, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Germany, Mauritius, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Gabon.

In the 2016 edition of the championships, Nigeria came second winning 30 gold, six silver, and three bronze medals.

The next edition of the African Masters Athletics Championships is scheduled for December 8-9, 2018, in Tunis, Tunisia.

Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for veteran athletes in the track and field events, road running and cross country running.