Category: Sports

Nigeria has won the fourth Refugees World Cup for the second time in São Paulo, Brazil defeating Morocco 9-4.

The annual knock-out tournament, in which 16 teams took part, kicked off in the Brazilian city on 16 September and was played on three days over a nine-day period at three locations.

Brazil has opened its doors to refugees from all countries, and football has become the universal language that brings them together.

The competition, organized by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), in partnership with the non-governmental organizations África do Coração, Cáritas São Paulo and SESC-SP, brought together some 250 players recruited from among Brazil’s refugee community. They played in their home countries’ national colours.

Brazil hosts more than 9,500 refugees from 82 countries. The Refugees World Cup is designed to help them integrate into their new country.

According to Syria’s coach, Abdulbaset Jarour:

“The Cup is all about integration. It’s about uniting people, no matter their race or religion. We want to show Brazilians we are good people.”

According to Maria Beatriz Nogueira, head of the UNHCR office in São Paulo:

“Brazil is known as football country. But we want to show that there are a lot of other football countries too. This is a gesture to Brazil from the refugees they’ve welcomed to show that they want to integrate and that they really do speak the same language.”

Marylove Edwards, wins her first trophy on U.S. soil by defeating her opponents to win the USTA Celsius Level 6 girls’ 14 & Under tournament.

This she achieved barely 20 days after moving to the world-renowned, IMG Tennis Academy founded by veteran tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri, in Bradenton, Florida.

She defeated her opponent, Nina Sidhu, in two straight sets with an emphatic 6-0, 6-1 win to claim the trophy.

The final was the climax of a competition she dominated winning all her matches convincingly in two sets apiece.

On the way to the final, Marylove Edwards defeated Anastasiia Pestereva in the round of sixteen in two straight sets of 6-3, 6-2. She followed up on her remarkable form beating Nicole Ciemark in a 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinal before ensuring her place in the final with a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of Stella Rundova.

With support from her Lagos-based pan-African talent agency, Temple Management Company, TMC, the twelve-year-old has been on a roll.

The organisation focuses on harnessing and marketing creatively endowed individuals and has been propelling the career of the Nigerian sensation.

On close observation, IMG founder, Bolletieri, singled out Marylove for her unique double-fisted style. His words:

“Now this young girl is very different: super athlete. Very handy. Only a few can get away with that style.”

Committed to her development, TMC was able to secure financing to help the starlet return to IMG Academy to begin a full academic session in September at the prestigious tennis intuition which has produced the likes of the Serena and Venus Williams, Andre Agassi and Monica Seles among others.

Marylove Edwards expressed her excitement at her new achievement:

“I have been training very hard since I started at IMG and was so happy to win my first trophy.”

Rasaq Tanimowo wins a gold medal at the 2017 AAU Weightlifting Championship held in Las Vegas, USA.

Tanimowo representing West coast weightlifting with clean and Jerk 130 kg and Snatch 100 kg retained the title won last year.

He pledged total allegiance to Nigeria promising to always respond to call up from his fatherland.

The All Africa Games silver medalist said:

“I’m happy after leaving the shores of the country, I’ve been able to participate in 4 weightlifting Championship and earned an international call last September.

I would have featured in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia but could not due to reasons beyond my control. I promise to always heed to the call of Nigeria at any point.”

Rasaq Tanimowo in 2016 set a new record in his weight class 56 kg at the championship with clean and Jerk 132 kg and Snatch 95 kg.

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)

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.

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.