Adham Sharara elected to the new position of ITTF Chairman

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) President Mr Adham SHARARA was elected to the newly created position of “Chairman of the ITTF” today at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Tokyo, Japan.

80% of the AGM delegates voted in favour of creating this position, and Mr SHARARA was voted as the first ever “Chairman of the ITTF” with 90% of the votes.

ITTF President Adham Sharara (right) announcing that he will be retiring from the ITTF Presidency and Deputy President (Left) will become the new ITTF President on 1 September 2014. Photo Credit: ITTF/Remy Gros

The position “Chairman of the ITTF” is an independent and non-political position without any voting or decision-making power. The “Chairman of the ITTF” will chair the ITTF AGM each year.

The new position comes into effect on 1 September 2014 at which time Mr SHARARA will retire as ITTF President, a position that he has held for the past 15 years.

At the conclusion of the AGM, the 60 year old Canadian stated: “I am very happy with the outcome. This new position is very well suited to me at this stage, and I will have the time to contribute efficiently in special focus areas needed for the further development of the ITTF. The new plan is designed to move table tennis into the top 5 sports in the world.”

According to the ITTF constitution, item 1.7.1, the ITTF Deputy President Thomas WEIKERT (GER) will succeed Mr SHARARA as the ITTF President on 1 September 2014.

“I am honored to be the next ITTF President,” stated Mr WEIKERT, who is also the President of the German Table Tennis Association. I have very big shoes to fill, as Adham has done a fantastic job growing the sport over the past 15 years. However, I am excited about the challenge and I am looking forward to building on the good work Adham has achieved in his Presidency.”

During Mr SHARARA’s 15 years as ITTF President, he has overseen major changes designed to make the ITTF more commercially viable and attractive to TV audiences.

This included changing the games from “first to 21 points” to “first to 11 points”, and increasing the size of the ball from 38mm to 40mm, just to name a few.
Mr SHARARA is leaving the ITTF in good health, after being in charge since 1999. The ITTF’s growth under Mr SHARARA includes:

ITTF moving up the Olympic funding table after London 2012.
ITTF’s major events being broadcasted live in 110 countries.
ITTF having the third highest number of social media followers among all Olympic international federations.
ITTF currently holding over 75 events a year in all corners of the globe.
ITTF having 220 National Associations , which is the equal highest of any International Federation second highest of any sport on the planet.
The 2014 AGM was held during the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships, which is being held between 28 April – 5 May 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

NIGERIA RUGBY FOOTBALL UPDATE ! SOUTH WEST LEAGUE WEEK 3 (CLASH OF THE TITANS)

NIGERIA RUGBY FOOTBALL UPDATE

SOUTH WEST LEAGUE WEEK 3 (CLASH OF THE TITANS)
As the week 3 of the southwest league set to hold on the 3rd of May 2014 at the main bowl of the national stadium, Cowrie RFC will be taking on Police RFC, the game which will be the highlight game of week 3 games is tagged ‘clash of the titan’, Cowrie RFC with six years unbeaten 15’s game race in West Africa set a record last week in the country (highest scored point in a single match) by winning the Royal Stallion RFC by 97 point to 0 in the second match of the week two games will face the determined Police RFC in the last match of week 3 games, Police RFC once sting Cowrie RFC in the final of the independent 7’s tournament held last year at the onikan stadium.
In other matches of the week 3 games, in the first game, Racing RFC will take on Eco II RFC, Lagos RFC and Gosar RFC will knock heads in the second game while the third game will be between Royal Stallions RFC and Hawster Athletics RFC,

(GIR) GET INTO RUGBY ENDORSEMENT
Following the NRFF endorsement as one of the union to participate in the IRB Get into Rugby programme, The Get into Rugby experts will be in Nigeria to undertake a three day training programme for coaches and teachers, the training will be held at the Media center of the national stadium on the 6th, 7th and 8th of May 2014, already 50 coaches and 35 teachers from eight states (Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Kaduna, Abia and Imo state) have registered to participate in the first phase of the programme.

This endorsement will automatically trigger grass root development of rugby in Nigeria.

“Try their potentials, let them play and motivate them to stay”

NATIONAL TRIALS
Nigeria National team will be competing at the AFRICA CUP 1C 15s tournament to be held in Garborone, Botswana from 13th – 22nd of June. Our opponents includes; Botswana, Morocco, Zambia, Mauritius and Swaziland. However, trials for National Team selection will be held in two regions i.e. North and South, the southern trials will be held at the main bowl of the national stadium surulere on 3rd of May 2014 during the Southwest League Week 3 games while the Northern trials will be held in Abuja on the 10th of May 2014, Players from oversea have been contacted to participate in the trails. The NRFF technical team will only pick players from these trials to participate in the National closed camp in order to prepare for the tournament.

2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship: Nigeria pummels Bosnia-Herzegovina, confronts Canada

Team Nigeria on Wednesday in Tokyo showed the Super Eagles how to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina at the World when the Segun Toriola-led side thrashed the European side 3-1 at the ongoing 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship.

Toriola started the onslaught, while Aruna Quadri increased the tally to 2-0 but Ojo Onaolapo fell in the third game to put the game at 2-1.

Like a true leader, Toriola rounded up the match with a win to give Nigeria a 3-1 win.

However, the respite of the female team was thwarted yesterday when they were beaten 3-0 by Portugal in their fourth game. Out of the four matches played so far by the Funke Oshonaike-captained side, the team has lost three with the only win recorded against Italy on Tuesday.

The team last group game will be against Turkey on Thursday.

But the male team has done creditably winning three out of its four matches with the only defeat, which they suffered against Czech Republic.

The team will also on Thursday battle Canada in their bid to gain promotion to the elite division.
Meanwhile, victory over the Slovak Republic on the first day of play but defeats against China and DPR Korea meant that Romanian trio of Daniela Monteiro Dodean, Elizabeta Samara and Bernadette Szocs, success against Austria was vital in their Women’s Championship Division contest.

A win was delivered and delivered in a most impressive manner; three matches to nil being the score-line.

Daniela Monteiro Dodean beat Liu Jia (3-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9), Elizabeta Samara followed suit by overcoming Elena Waggermayer (11-6, 11-4, 11-6), with Bernadette Szocs concluding matters.

She recovered from a two games to nil deficit against Li Qiangbing to secure a five games success (9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6)

Golden Eaglets screening continues

Fresh from their near-successful campaign at the WAFU B Tournament in Togo, Golden Eaglets’ technical crew would continue screening of new players at the NFF/FIFA Goal Project Pitch in Abuja.

‘Old boys’ who won bronze medal at the tournament in Togo, are expected to resume training in due course while new players desirous to be part of the team would have the chance to undergo the rigours of screening starting from Thursday, May 1, 2014.

On the last count, about 4,000 players have gone through the screening and the exercise was barely two weeks before the team travelled to Togo for the tournament where they finished third behind Benin and Mali.

But officials said it was imperative to look at fresh talents in order to strengthen the team ahead of greater challenges.

Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, said the tournament in Togo gave the coaching crew the ample opportunity to gauge players’ response to competition as well as their general attitude and conduct.

The former Nigerian international said efforts would be geared towards getting a pool of 50 talented players that would be registered for the qualifiers as well as the 2015 CAN Under-17 Championship in Niger.

“We would use the next two weeks to look at new players because we need to reinforce the team as it were,” Amuneke said.”Our objective is to have a pool of good players that we can draw from time to time because this is a long journey.”

The Golden Eaglets would begin their 2015 African Under-17 campaign in July and have been drawn bye into the second round to meet the winner of the first round clash between Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ibile Games begins in Lagos

Lagos State Sports Festival tagged IBILE Games 2014 got underway today with activities already lighting up various centres across the state.

At least seven sports, Ayo, Basketball, Darts, Table Tennis, Para Table Tennis, Deaf Table Tennis and Squash were the events which heralded Day One of the competition at Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba and the Knock Up Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, while other centres will witness action in sports such as Swimming, Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Tennis on Thursday.

The tournament, which will end on 10 May, is involving no fewer than 162 secondary schools (public, private, missionary, military and para military) which are competing in the Junior Category, while the Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas are taking part in the Senior/Open Category.

One of the athletes expected to headline the tournament, Oyinlomo Quadri, said that she is looking forward to winning gold medal in Tennis for Maryanne Private School, Lagos Island. She said: “I have been training seriously with the aim of re-enacting the feat I recorded at the last National School Sports Festival in Ilorin, Kwara State where I won gold medal for Lagos State. I trained hard to give my all in order to get a slot in Team Lagos for the DAWN Games,” she said.

To Ogunsanwo Emmanuel, who will feature in the Badminton event for Lagos City Senior High School, “expectation from my school is for me to win a gold medal in this event and I’m ready not to fall short of this.” Akintola Otega, a gymnast for the same school noted performing very well at the IBILE Games will afford the opportunity of featuring at the DAWN Games, adding that she is in high spirit to compete for her school at the tournament.

Algeria’s GSP claim historic Women’s African Volleyball Club Championship’s title

2014 Women’s African Club Championship- Final

Algeria’s GSP won the 2014 Women’s African Club Championship after historic win against 5 time champions Kenya Prisons 3-0 (30-28, 25-15, 25-9) in a historic final held at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Sunday.

GSP added their second title in the history and revenged their defeat last year against Prisons in a ground breaking five set final.

On the other hand Prisons lost the first title since 2010 after 4 straight wins and 5 in total.

Outstanding hitter Zohra Ben Salem was the key factor of the victory not only with the 16 points she scored to come as the match scorer, but also with her leadership and spirit with the experienced setter Fatma Okazi. From Prisons side Nasiche Makuto was her team scorer with 10 points.

The first set was the most exciting part of the match as defending champions Prisons lost several set points before GSP won after a thrilling come back 30-28. After wards Prisons lost the motivations, whuile GSP played their best to win widely the second and third sets.

Kenya Pipleines overwhelmed Carthage (Tunisia) 3-1 (25-20, 25-14, 19-25, 25-22) in the 3rd place match to claim the bronze medal.

Egypt’s El Shams claimed the 5th place after the crashed Sfax (Tunisia) after a thrilling tiebreaker 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-12, 15-12).

Injis (Cameroon) defeated their rivals FAP 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 18-25, 25-21) to finish their campaign at the 7th place.

Final Standings
1. GSP ALG
2. PRISONS KEN
3. PIPELINE KEN
4. CARTHAGE TUN
5. EL SHAMS EGY
6. SFAXIEN TUN
7. INJS CMR
8. FAP CMR
9. CHLEF ALG
10. APR RWA
11. BAFIA CMR
12. NDEJJE UGA
13. BEJAIA ALG
14. WATER SPORTS ETH
15. NKUMBA UNIVERSITY UGA
16. MAN MANGA

NTTF boss, Oshodi, gets ITTF appointment

The Executive Committee of International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has appointed President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi into its powerful Nominations Committee.

In a letter signed by the Director, Operations and Para Table Tennis, Alison Burchell, the appointment takes effect from July 1, 2014 to 2016.

At the end of the Executive Committee meeting held on Monday at the ongoing 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship in Tokyo, Japan, the committee resolved to appoint Oshodi as a member of the Nominations Committee.

Chan Foong Keong of Malaysia will chair the Committee, while Qatar’s Abdullah Almula will deputise.ITTF Vice President, Cherif Hajem is also a member of the committee,

For table tennis buffs, Oshodi’s appointment did not come as a surprise following the sterling performance of the NTTF boss since assumption of office.

“There is no doubt that Oshodi deserves this because he has made table tennis to return to its rightful place in Nigeria. The players are now kept busy while attention is also giving to grassroots development.

Look at the players that went to the ITTF Hopes Week in Kenya, they were unknown players from states like Kogi and for this players, they made the country proud by picking the tickets to the global event in Slovenia, All these are part of the conscious efforts spearheaded by the NTTF boss to reposition the game in Nigeria.

For us in Nigeria, we are proud of him and we look forward to more of this for him,” said Adebayo Adeyemi, a table tennis expert.

NFF dismisses claims by Singaporean match-fixer

Wilson Raj Perumal

The Nigeria Football Federation has dismissed as ‘totally falacious’ the claim by a self-confessed and convicted Singaporean match-fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal, that he helped Nigeria qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

In a statement in Abuja, the NFF declared that the entire claim by Perumal was nothing more than ‘distinct fiction’ and insisted that the
true heroes of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals were the Federal Government, the NFF, players and coaches of the Super Eagles and the generality of Nigeria ball fans.

“We have gone through the fictitious write-up by the Singaporean, who was fittingly convicted for his nefarious activities and has spent
time in jail. The NFF will only say at this moment that there was no truth to the claim and that we had nothing to do with Perumal all
through the Super Eagles’ qualifying series for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“Perumal’s statements are a hogwash and have no legs to stand on. We have ordered for the book itself with a view to digesting it and looking critically at it. If the book impugns on the image of the Nigeria Football Federation, our players and the larger image of our
dear country, we will take appropriate action,” NFF General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu said on Tuesday.

Amadu said that further enquiries should be directed to world football -governing body, FIFA, since the match was a FIFA competition
qualifier.

Furthermore, NFF’s Integrity Officer, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, stated that alongside the NFF Match-fixing Investigative Officer, Dr. Christian Emeruwa, he is in communication with FIFA Security on match-fixing matters and they will dig deeper into the claim.

Nigeria overhauled Tunisia, Kenya and Mozambique in the final rounds of the qualification series to reach the first FIFA World Cup finals to be staged on African soil, in 2010.

2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship: Mixed fortunes for Nigeria, as female team records first win

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday acknowledged the outstanding performance of the Nigeria male team at the ongoing 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship after the Segun Toriola-captained side defeated highly rated Belgium team in the competition.

Also on Tuesday, the female team led by Funke Oshonaike recorded their first win of the tournament against Italy in their third group game of Group G.

On Monday, the Nigeria men’s team had walloped Indonesia 3-0 while on Tuesday; they did the impossible against the Belgian side.
In Group E, Nigeria beat Belgium 3-1 with Aruna Quadri being the man of the moment while Ojo Onaolapo played a vital supporting role in the victory.

Quadri started the onslaught for Nigeria when he beat Belgium’s Yannick Vostes 5-11, 2-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-7 and Cédric Nyutinck 11-8, 2-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-9; while Onaolapo accounted for Florent Lambiet 8-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3. Cédric Nyutinck, recorded the only success for Belgium in the second match of the fixture, when he overcame Toriola 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-2.

“I am really happy that we were able to beat Belgium, because we knew how good they are”, said Toriola who now combines coaching with playing.

“We expected Jean-Michel Saive to be playing but instead they opted for young Cédric Nyutinck who really surprised us, he beat me, a good tactical choice by Belgium, because they know I’ve played Saive many times and I know his game inside out”, added Segun Toriola. “Besides playing, I am also active as a coach and I am very happy with the fact that we’ve brought young players to Tokyo like Quadri and Onaolapo.”

“They have a really good potential and after I finish my career, I want to coach them and bring them to a high level”, continued Toriola.

“In Nigeria table tennis is very popular but we don’t get much support from the government, which favours football and that is why it’s very difficult to keep young players motivated.”

For the women’s team the triumph over Italy was a revenge of what the Italian did to the team in 2012.

Since the commencement of the tournament on Monday, the Nigerian ladies have lost to India 3-1 and Bulgaria 3-1. But the needed victory came against the Italians when Edem Offiong defeated Debora Vivarelli 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 4-11 and Oshonaike increased the tally with another 3-0 bashing of Lisa Ridolfi. But Cecilia Otu-Akpan was unlucky against Chiara Colantoni when she lost 3-2.

To make the victory certain for Nigeria, Oshonaike fought well against Vivarelli to win 3-2 to give Nigeria an overall 3-1 win.
However, the unbeaten run of the Nigerian male team came to an end on Tuesday when the team was defeated 3-0 by the division two number one seed team, Czech Republic.

SALAMI PROMISES MORE GOALS

Warri Wolves striker, Gbolahan Salami has declared his readiness to score more goals as the team host FC Taraba at the Warri City Stadium on Wednesday, just as diminutive attacking midfielder, Kelvin Itoya commended the management for prompt payment of the winning bonus the team recorded against Abia Warriors on Sunday.

According to Gbolahan who has netted four goals in the league, he is so hungry of increasing his goal tally that he cannot wait to start the match against FC Taraba if the Coaches considered him good enough.

The former shooting Stars player who was recruited at the beginning of the season said the team is blessed with good strikers and have started to understand themselves and this will help him to achieve his mission to score more goals.

” The truth is that I am hungry of goals and I thought I will score against Abia Warriors but it did not happen but against FC Taraba, I hope to score. The team is blessed with good strikers and we are beginning to understand ourselves, so we should expect more goals’.

Meanwhile, attacking midfielder, Kelvin Itoya has commended the management of the Club for prompt payment of the winning bonus ion the victory recorded against Abia Warriors, saying this will motivate the players to do more.

” We got the winning bonus on Monday evening and I want to commend the Management for a job well done. I think this will serve as a morale booster and hopefully, the team will do well in the match against FC Taraba and subsequent ones. We have experience players and young ones like me who are ready to learn and do the team proud. what we want is total support from the fans and their prayers which will go a long way in helping us.” he said

Super Falcons tame the Lionesses

Nigeria Super Falcons on tuesday defeated their Cameroonian counterpart one goal to nil in an international friendly match played inside the FIFA goal project National Stadium package B Abuja.

Asisat Oshoala got the only goal for Falcons in the 85th minute to put smiles in the faces of supporters who filled the FIFA goal project pitch to support the Super Falcons.
“I am very happy to score the only goal for my team,the match was very tough but we are happy we got victory at last” an elated Oshoala said .

In a post match chat coach Okon said he is happy his girls created scoring opportunity but added that he and his assistants will work on finishing for the girls.

“As you can see, we are in the process of rebuilding a new team and I think the reason behind the struggling to get the victory today was that the girls did not play to the instruction as per converting chances.Our task now is to work on converting our chances.

“There are no matches that are simple you must labour to win matches and I am happy that our labour did not go in vain” he said.

YSFON ban Amodu Yusuf, fines Idah….

In its sincere resolve to uphold ethics on burden talents discovery in Nigeria, the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria has banned Amodu Yusuf, jersey number 7 of Idah at the Attah Igala Unity Cup from all subsequent YSFON organised tournament after been found ineligible.

The Organizing and Disciplinary body of YSFON among its decisions also fined team Idah a sum of N20, 000 for violating the rules of the competition and turned down the award of three points to Igalamela.

The verdicts were made after cross examination of protest submitted by Igalamela through its sports Secretary, Muhammed Usman against Idah, questioning the eligibility of Amodu Yusuf after previously participating in the National Federation Cup tournament for Igalamela United Football club.

David Ehimony, who Chaired the YSFON’s Disciplinary Committee, said the player in question was guilty after cross examinations of evidences affirmed that the he was registered for Igalamela United in 2011/2012 season and on monthly stipend of the club, which goes against the ethics of the body on age-grade competition.

Ehimony who is also the YSFON’s Deputy National Secretary, added that the complainant Igalamela will not get the award of three points owing to their failure to meet the 24 hours deadline for protest presentation having end the disputed match at 10:35am and only submitted it protest at 12:07pm.