Gusau, Fresh, Others retain State FA Chairmanship Seats…

Elections into the Football Associations of the 36 States and Abuja has hit full throttle with the exercise already successfully concluded in some States.

On Monday, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, Member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of the NFF Referees Committee, retained his seat unopposed as Chairman of Niger State Football Association, at elections conducted in Minna.

Also on Monday, at elections conducted in Dutse, Alhaji Sabo Abdullahi Dutse retained his seat unopposed as Chairman of the Jigawa State Football Association.

On Tuesday, two more States concluded their exercises, with Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, Member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of the NFF Security Committee, retaining his seat unopposed as Chairman of Zamfara State Football Association at elections conducted in Gusau.

Although the persons were unopposed, yes or no votes were still cast in the circumstances.

It was not as plain-sailing for Alhaji Abdulkadir Magaji Kabaka, who had to sweat out before retaining his seat as Chairman of Kaduna State Football Association. He scored 23 votes to keep his job, while Sheriff Kassim scored 16 votes to become the vice chairman.

Jumare Magaji, Garba Mohammed, Magaji Alhassan, Bege Kwassau, Abubakar Aliyu, Abdusalam Jere and Joe Shedrack were elected into the Kaduna State FA executive council from the various zones, at the election supervised by Member of NFF Executive Committee, Barrister Chris Green.

NFF expresses gratitude to Nigeria Ambassadors’ Forum

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has described the country’s missions abroad as partners in progress and catalyst behind the successes recorded by national teams at various international competitions in recent times.

Alhaji Ahmad Muazu Kawu, Member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of Nigeria Nationwide League, who is the leader of delegation to Niger 2015, made this declaration when Nigeria’s Ambassador to Niger Republic, Alhaji Aliyu Isa Sokoto, paid a visit to the Golden Eaglets’ Royal Palace Hotel camp, after their 2-0 win over the host in Sunday’s opening match.

Also in attendance at the brief event were Dr. Muhammed Sanusi, NFF’s Director of Competitions, Coach Siji Lagunju, the Assistant Director in the Technical Department, Mallam Nasiru Jibril, Personal Assistant to NFF President and a host of other NFF staff.

Speaking on behalf of the NFF President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, Kawu said the Federation has tremendous respect for Nigerian embassies abroad and was grateful to Ambassador Sokoto and his Mission Staff who have been at the beck and call of the Golden Eaglets since their arrival in Niamey on Friday.

” We are very grateful that you were here to visit us and importantly, for your hospitality towards us and I want to convey to you the profound appreciation of the NFF board to the forum of Nigerian ambassadors all over the world because of your support to the national teams,” Kawu said.

An unassuming Ambassador Sokoto was magnanimous in admitting that the
Embassy was only carrying out its statutory function by attending to the well being of the Golden Eaglets. He said he was proud of the performance of the team by winning their first match and indeed, scoring the first two goals of the 11th African Under-17 Championship.

“A lot of people are praising our country for your victory and I’m very pleased that you were able to beat the host team,” said the Ambassador who hails from Sokoto State. “We want you to keep up the performance and be assured of our continued support throughout your stay in Niger.

“It is our responsibility to take good care of you here and we want to
consider Niger Republic as your home at least for now because Nigerians here
would give you the maximum support,” he added.

Responding, Coach Emmanuel Amuneke thanked the Ambassador and other embassy officials for helping the team to settle down in Niamey, restating that the objective of the team at Niger 2015 was to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.

NFF President, Amaju Pinnick

Adama acting for Amadu

NFF’s Director of Marketing, Mr. Idris Adama is in charge of administration at the Glass House for the next few days, as he has been so mandated by the General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu, who is away in Europe.

In a memo handed to Idris before flying out of the country, Amadu wrote: “This is to inform you that as I will be away to the Home of FIFA, Zurich, Switzerland with the President and 1st Vice President for a meeting with the FIFA President, I hereby mandate you to act as General Secretary.

“This is, in cognizance of the fact that the Deputy General Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme is also away in Accra, Ghana with the U-20 National Team, Flying Eagles, for two warm –up matches ahead of the 2015 African Youth Championship.

“Since my schedule is to return to Nigeria on the evening of Thursday, 19th February, 2015, you will oversee the administration of the office in acting capacity for this period.”

US$3,000,000 ITTF World Tour Continues in Qatar

There is no rest for the world’s best table tennis players, as they travel from Kuwait City to Doha for the second Super Series event of the year, the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Qatar Open.

Qualifications for the US$220,000 Qatar Open begins today 17 February with the main draw starting on Friday 20 February where the top seeds face the lucky few that made it through qualification stage.

Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) is the headline act, as he takes part in his first World Tour event of 2015 in Qatar, after missing the Kuwait Open with an arm injury.

Ma Long powered his way to his 18th World Tour victory at the Kuwait Open.

Upon arriving in Doha, the 26 year old was in a buoyant mood after his recent win at the ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup a few weeks ago: “I have practiced well over the past two months and have got a lot of confidence from my past few tournaments, especially the ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup. My big goal here is to win my first Super Series title of the year, and I think I am well prepared to do so.”

“This is a very high level event with top players. If I play great, then I will have a good chance to win the title, but I need to focus on ball by ball starting in the first round.”

OVTCHAROV will need to be at his best to beat rivals such as Marcos FREITAS (POR), CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE) and Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) to reach his ultimate goal.

FENG Tianwei (SIN), who won three World Tour events in 2014, will be the hot favourite on the women’s side with no Chinese players taking part in the event.

The stylish defender SEO Hyowon (KOR) and Georgina POTA (HUN), who had a breakthrough year in 2014 reaching the Women’s World Cup and World Tour Grand Finals semi finals, will be FENG’s big threat to the title in Qatar.

Qualification for the GAC Group 2015 Qatar Open Kicks Off Today in Doha!

The 2015 World Tour is offering a record US$3,000,000 in prize money and will also be the most viewed in history, with more events shown live throughout the world on television and all the events being shown live on ITTF’s live streaming platform, itTV.

As was the case in 2014, the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour will be split up into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events).

The top 16 singles and top 8 doubles pairs on the World Tour Standings will then be invited to the prestigious World Tour Grand Finals at the end of the year, the location to be announced later.

Siasia Picks 21 for Gabon

Former U-20 international Gero Abdullahi was the surprise exclusion from the 21 –man list released by the Head Coach of U-23 National Team Samson Siasia for this weekend’s All-Africa Games qualifying game against Gabon in Libreville.

Others who failed to make the team are Aminu Umar, who arrived late to camp and Warri Wolves’ forward Freedom Omofonma who also arrived camp late after his club’s CAF Confederation Cup game in Burkina Faso.

The list of 16 home boys and five overseas- based professionals are expected to depart the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Wednesday evening for Gabon aboard an Ethiopia Airline flight.

Siasia Samson credit fifa.com

‎
The 21 players for Gabon:

Goalkeepers: Daniel Emmanuel, Akande Abiodun

Defenders: Obanor Erhun, Okorom Stanley, Oduduwa Segun, Sani Faisal, Sincere Seth, Atanda Sodiq

Midfielders: Azubuike Okechukwu, Godwin Savior, Tiongoli Tonbara, Saliu Popoola, Oshobe Oladele, Mohammed Usman, Kingsley Sokari

Forwards: Etebo Oghenekaro, Ajayi Junior, Peter Onyekachi,‎ Iwobi Alex, Paul Onwachu

Europe vs Japan Rosters Announced; Asics Sponsors Europe as Official Outfitter

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for the sports, today unveiled the team rosters for the Europe versus top ranked Japan two-game baseball series scheduled for 10-11 March at the Tokyo Dome.

WBSC also announced today that sportswear brand Asics has become the official apparel sponsor of the newly established “Europe” men’s baseball team.

Under the sponsorship agreement, Asics, a leading sports performance brand, will outfit Europe with a complete set of official competition apparel, including uniforms (home and visitors), hats, shoes, belts, jackets, undershirts and pullovers — and training suits and running shoes for the team’s historic debut versus Samurai Japan.

“The WBSC couldn’t be more pleased to partner with a leading, high-performance sports brand, like Asics, to help guarantee a successful launch of this new type of competition in which Europe will make its debut,” said Masaru Yokoo, WBSC Baseball Marketing Director. “This is a great day for our sport and another key step forward that highlights baseball’s rise and potential in Europe as a viable and attractive property.”

As baseball/softball’s popularity steadily increases in Europe, WBSC announced plans two weeks ago to summon the first-ever united European baseball team to provide an additional platform with which to raise the profile and showcase the brand of baseball in Europe.

The official look and apparel design for the Asics-backed Europe team will be unveiled next month in Tokyo.

Phenom Shohei Ohtani (100+ mph fastball with NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters) will likely be one of the Samurai selected to help Japan battle for the 2015 Premier 12 World Title.

TEAM ROSTERS

World No. 1 Japan, under manager Hiroki Kokubo, will go with a 26-man roster that features players and national heroes from all 12 of Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) clubs, led by Hiroshima Carp and the Softbank Hawks, each of which has four players making it on the National Team.

Nineteen of Japan’s 26 players were on the roster for the Japan vs. MLB best-of-five series last November, won by hosts Japan.

Europe’s head coach, Steve Janssen (Netherlands National Team manager), selected his roster of 28 players from five countries (by world rank): No. 5 Netherlands, No. 11 Italy, No. 17 Spain, No. 18 Germany and No. 27 France. (See Europe’s full Roster.)

The 2011 World Champions, Netherlands, take the honour of having the most players selected (15) to represent Europe, including 10-time Major League Baseball Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones, who played the past two seasons with NPB’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and played for the Netherlands in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Italy will have six players heading to Tokyo to represent Europe, including NPB’s Orix Buffaloes pitcher, Alessandro Maestri, while Spain (4), Germany (2) and France (1) will also have a presence for Europe.

“I have either been their coach or have coached against them in international competition, and I think our coaching staff has put together a solid roster and talented group,” said Janssen. “It’s a huge honour and great opportunity — and responsibility — for our players to enter the stage wearing the ‘Europe’ jersey, competing against the No. 1 ranked country in the world in their home. This is baseball…this is what it’s all about.”

World Baseball Softball Confederation

CPBL UMPIRES TO OFFICIATE EUROPE VS JAPAN SERIES

WBSC also revealed that umpires from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) — a WBSC Associate Member — will officiate and oversee the two-game series to ensure neutrality, highlighting the WBSC Family’s shared vision to grow the sport globally and safeguard the integrity of the game.

NPB — the second highest-attended major sports league in the world in 2014 (approx. 23 million) and also a WBSC Associate Member — is the host of the Europe versus Japan two-game series.

Zikiye Accepts Blame For Malabo Loss

Dolphins left full back, Jonathan Zikiye has admitted he must share in the blame for the goal in Malabo that cost his side a 1-0 defeat to Leones Vegetarianos in the CAF Confederation Cup.

Dolphins lost through a 57th minute goal conceded when the defence went ball watching and Zikiye says it all started from his position.

“It’s true. That goal was scored after a little slip from our part as defenders and it started from my side,” Zikiye said.

“It was a moment of loss of concentration but in every football match there are bound to be mistakes but the important thing is for us to learn from these mistakes.

Dolphins left full back, Jonathan Zikiye

“We are working hard for the second leg and we believe we will be able to turn it around,” Zikiye enthused.

It was Jonathan Zikiye’s first ever game on the continent and he spoke on what the experience was like.

“It was a good experience even though we lost the game. We went there to win but we lost.

IT was a good experience and we hope to turn it around when they come to Nigeria.”

Rotimi Blames Profligacy For Dolphins Loss

Dolphins’ captain, Sunday Rotimi says missed chances were to blame for the loss in Malabo to Leones Vegetarianos on Saturday.

Dolphins lost the CAF Confederation Cup game via a 57th minute goal and Rotimi says that goal may not have mattered if the team had taken their chances.

“It’s a game we should have won but our attackers threw away many chances in the first half. From where I was, I counted four of them.

“In important games like these you must take your chances and these four we got were clear cut chances and we should have scored them but our attackers failed to do so and the result is the loss,” Rotimi said.

Rotimi also pointed out that the team was not robbed in Malabo but that they lost due to carelessness.

“We know the terrain very well and referees will always give slight advantages to the home side which he did on Saturday, but imagine if we had scored those four goals or even two of them and the story would have been different.

“We were not robbed, we were just careless on the day,” Rotimi said.

Dolphins Fc

How they played

Coach of Dolphins, Stanley Eguma handed a debut to Christian Pyagbara and it was Dolphins on the front foot in the first half but carelessness on the part of the attackers ensured the first half ended goaless.

Ifeanyi Egwim had a chance to score but missed when that was the more difficult option.

Isiaka Olawale was also through on goal but failed to find the back of the net and Tijani Adamu had his turn to miss and while the goalkeeper was beaten, his outstretched leg stopped the ball from going in.

Christian Pyagbara also registered his name amongst players who missed clear cut chances in the first half when he blasted wide with the ball at his feet in front of the goal.

Going into the break, it seemed Dolphins would turn out winners on the day until the 57th minute when Jonathan Zikye failed to take care of a Vegetarianos winger whose low cross in the box was jabbed home after defenders Victor Ezuruike and Joseph Zaovi Douhadji were found ball watching.

Five minutes later it could have been 2-0 if not for Sunday Rotimi making a point blank save in the box and Dolphins were the more relieved team at the full time whistle.

Dolphins start list

22. Sunday Rotimi, 6. Ayobami Asekunowo, 26. Jonathan Zikye, 8. Emeka Atuloma, 30. Victor Ezuruike, 5. Joseph Douhadji, 7. Isiaka Olawale, 13. IFeanyi Egwim, 9. Christian Pyagbara, 20. Tijani Adamu, 10. Victor Alegbe

Subs

Omo Johnson replaced Christian Pyagbara, Chigozie Ihunda came in for Victor Alegbe and Ifeanyi Egwim was taken off for Chidiebere Okolie