2015 AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships: 441 Boxers Aim For Gold In Taipei

One of the most prestigious boxing events of the year begins this week, as the 3rd edition of the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships starts in Taipei, Taiwan.

An excellent line-up of boxers from 45 nations have registered to take part in this tournament, and the sporting world will be able to view the future stars of women’s boxing firsthand.

Fast facts

What: AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships

Where: Taipei, Taiwan

When: 14-25 May 2015

On Wednesday 13th May, a press conference was held ahead of the Championships, where a wide range of boxing dignitaries attended, including AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, Chairman of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Hong Dao Lin, President of the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association Wunan Lee, Deputy Director of Education Weimin Jiang, Manager of the Gym Zhihan Chen, Supervisor Waldemar Mencel, Competition Manager Ben Cheng, plus the entire boxing team of Chinese Taipei.

Many members of the local media also attended, and the event was a perfect introduction for the upcoming competition.

The Tension and the Drama

Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien Chin is a hero in her home country, and will be the host nation’s biggest hope to reach the top of the podium.

The Taipei-based athlete was a gold medallist in the 2013 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Albena, Bulgaria, and earned a silver medal at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

With such high expectation on her shoulders, can the super talented Chen Nien Chin use the pressure to her advantage, and triumph at the top of the strong Middleweight (75 kg) class?

The most anticipated battle of the Championships

Armenia’s Anush Grigoryan and China’s Chang Yuan have both achieved significant victories in worldwide events, and are in the midst of an intense rivalry having met in the ring three times already in their young careers.

The first clash was held in Albena over 18 months ago where the Chinese boxer won their inaugural meeting, while Grigoryan gained revenge in the qualification event of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Sofia.

Chang Yuan won their third contest in the front of her home crowd during the boxing tournament of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, and if they meet again in the Youth Flyweight (51 kg) class in Taipei, their fourth battle will be one of the most anticipated bouts of the entire competition.

One to watch

US star Jajaira Gonzalez is one of the most prodigious talents in all of boxing, and she has never been defeated throughout her boxing career.

Her list of accolades at such a young age is remarkable, with victories in the 2013 AIBA Junior World Championships, the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games and its qualification event, plus the AMBC American Women’s Youth Continental Championships.

Gonzalez is seeking another significant medal in the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships, and the hugely talented boxer will attract much attention in the ring if she remains undefeated in Taipei.

AIBA AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, during the press conference in Taipei 2015

AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships Key Facts

Continuing the excellent ascent of women’s boxing in terms of popularity, the final number of registered athletes is 441 from 45 nations.

The number of Youth athletes is 247, and they will be fighting in the following weight classes: 48 kg, 51 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg, 60 kg, 64 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg and +81 kg.

Additionally, 194 Junior boxers have registered in thirteen official weight classes: 46 kg, 48 kg, 50 kg, 52 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg, 60 kg, 63 kg, 66 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 80 kg, +80 kg.

Among the developing boxing nations, Afghanistan, Botswana, Burundi, Guatemala, Haiti, Kosovo, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New-Guinea and Sri Lanka will all take part, while both DPR Korea and Thailand will make their debut in the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships.

This event will also mark the first appearance of Canada in the tournament, and their team will be looking for medals alongside Vietnam, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

History of the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships

The event was launched in 2011 when Antalya hosted the first edition of the Championships for Youth and Junior women’s boxers, and the best performances was achieved by China, India, Russia, Turkey and Sweden.

Japan and Kazakhstan also claimed gold medals in Antalya, with Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Vietnam earning medals as well.

Albena, Bulgaria hosted the second edition of the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships in September 2013, where the Powerful Russian side claimed five gold medals, with Poland and United States both earning three top positions.

Ten of the thirteen junior gold medallists from Albena will compete again in the Championships in Chinese Taipei, and the host nation will be looking to improve on their two historic golds from two years ago.

37th CBN Tennis Championship serves off in Lagos

The 37th Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Championship will hold in Lagos from 14th – 23rd of May with about 200 players expected to feature.

CBN’s Director Corporate Communications Department, Ibrahim Mu’azu, at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday said the championship, which has been the foundation on which Nigerian tennis is laid will, among others, serve as the platform for the selection of players that will represent Nigeria at the forthcoming Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa and the All Africa games in billed for August in Congo.

He added that the Wheelchair tennis, which was introduced to the championship in 2013 will also feature this year.

He stressed that Wheelchair tennis has helped Nigeria’s dominance in Africa following the country’s winning of the African qualifier for the World Cup which took place in the Netherlands last year.

Players are to compete in five categories namely singles (men and women) doubles (men and women) as well as mixed doubles.

The singles’ champions will each receive N700,000 while finalists will pocket N500, 000. The champions and finalists for men and women in the wheelchair event will get N250, 000 and 200, 000.

Meanwhile, players are to sign a code of conduct for the championship.

NTF President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa said the move is in line with the global best practice.

“We are instilling discipline in the players as it is done in major tournaments across the world because no player is bigger than the federation, said Ndanusa, who was represented by NTF’s 1st vice president, Yemi Owoseni.

LIVE STREAM OF DOHA AND SHANGHAI PRESS CONFERENCES TO LAUNCH 2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE

The 2015 IAAF Diamond League gets underway this week with Doha (15) and Shanghai (17) playing host to the first two meetings in the series.

The dual nature of this season’s launch means that all 32 Diamond Race disciplines will be contested this week between the two Asian legs of the IAAF Diamond League. The series will then continue later this month with the remaining 12 fixtures divided between the USA and various European countries.

Press conferences from both Doha and Shanghai – featuring a selection of the top athletes set to compete this week – will be streamed live on the IAAF Diamond League website the day before each competition.

Doha press conference
14 May 11:30 local time (GMT +3)

IAAF President Lamine Diack, Asian Athletics President Dahlan Al Hamad and Qatar Athletics Federation General Secretary Mohamed Jassem Al Kuwari will be joined by double world and Olympic champion Mo Farah, Olympic 200m champion Allyson Felix, Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson and Asian Games sprint champion Femi Ogunode.

LIVE STREAM OF DOHA AND SHANGHAI PRESS CONFERENCES TO LAUNCH 2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE photo credit IAAF/ © Errol Anderson

Shanghai press conference
16 May 14:00 local time (GMT +8)

Meeting director Jos Hermens will be joined by world 110m hurdles champion David Oliver, Olympic 110m hurdles champion Aries Merritt, Asian Games 110m hurdles champion Xie Wenjun and double world sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Both press conferences will be streamed on this page of the IAAF Diamond League website. The streams will begin a few minutes before the start time of each conference.

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

We Are On Peak Of A Small Hill In Table Tennis – Oshodi

With some giant strides made since taking charge, President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi has admitted that the federation would not be carried away by the little success recorded in this dispensation.

Oshodi, who is a member of the Nomination Committee of International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said there is still more grounds to cover in the sport, as the feat achieved by Aruna Quadri as well as the bronze medal won at the last Commonwealth Games in Scotland would not make the NTTF to be complacent.

“Definitely we are not satisfied with what we have achieved and this is where a lot of people get it wrong.

We are still living on past glory because our current generation of players has not done much. Aruna Quadri’s achievement last year and our team medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games are now history. We need to move on from that as our next major test as a nation is at the Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville. We need to fight hard for the seven gold medals at stake. If we can take all seven golds as we used to do many years past that might satisfy my hunger for success for a short period”

There are still so many mountains to climb and we are currently at the peak of a small hill. We must in the nearest future aim to be number one in Africa and the Commonwealth as well as a top ten nation in the world.

It is achievable but we must set about doing our work properly both players and officials,” Oshodi said.

The NTTF boss described funding as a major hiccup faced by the federation, saying most of their programmes have been hampered by paucity of fund.

Aruna Quadri, ITTF STAR AWARDS WINNER

He added: “For me I see that we have major problems in two critical areas and this includes inadequate funding, indiscipline and lack of commitment on the part of some of our players. We need money to fund our programmes, training, equipment, kitting and attending to the needs of the players, participating in tournaments abroad are some of the areas that we need money for. The lack of funding is hampering our progress. Some of our players still need to be more professional in their outlook while their lack of respect for coaches and officials is something that militates against their development. We have some excellent role models in our game and we have to continue to educate the young players to emulate these good models.

Wahid Oshodi- President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation

“I am personally canvassing a stricter disciplinary process for the federation. If you misbehave you will not have a place in the national team. We will continue to find ways to fund our sport in light of the inadequate funding we receive from the government. We understand that we are not football but I make bold to say that if we had five percent of what football gets we would show much greater success,” the NTTF helmsman said.

On coaching, he said: “We are addressing the issue of coaching but again funding is critical to our plans. We need to expose our coaches and I believe we need to bring in a few coaches with vast experience to assist us. From what I have seen in China and all over the world coaches are a very vital cog in the success of a team.

FINA CLINIC FOR SWIMMING OFFICIALS HOLDS IN BRAZZAVILLE

A FINA clinic for swimming officials was organised by the Fédération Congolaise de Natation (FECONAT) from April 13-17 in the capital city, Brazzaville (CGO). The clinic attracted 26 participants aspiring to become official technical staff at the African Games.

The five-day course was aimed to strengthen the technical officials’ expertise. Strategic positioning and handling of the tools were trained with practical exercises.

The FECONAT provided key information about the latest sports technical trends and in particular about the 11th African Games to be held from September 4-19, 2015 in Brazzaville. A visit of the future competition venues was organised for the participants all coming from surrounding nations.

Ten applicants have been selected to be official timekeepers at the next African Games.

MORE DEVELOPMENT NEWS ON FINA.ORG

PENULTIMATE DWS LEG TO RESUME IN WINDSOR, CANADA

The FINA/NVC Diving World Series will resume in Canada, one of the leading countries in diving, for the fifth and penultimate leg of the 2015 circuit. The world’s best divers will make their way to the city of Windsor, Ontario, to compete at the three-day event from May 22-24.

Home’s favourite and greatest divers such as Francois Imbeau-Dulac, Vincent Riendeau, Philippe Gagne, Meaghan Benfeito, Roseline Filion, Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware are announced to take part and execute their best combinations.

Since the beginning of the competition, Canada has systematically climbed on the podium challenging China’s dominance very closely at all meets. The nation has proven particularly good in the mixed events: Jennifer Abel captured silver together with François Imbeau-Dulac in Beijing in the 3m springboard as their Canadian counterparts Meaghan Benfeito / Vincent Riendeau finished second in the 10m platform right behind China.

PENULTIMATE DWS LEG TO RESUME IN WINDSOR, CANADA

In Dubai, team Canada was also in good shape. Both pairs mentioned above confirmed their positions in the mixed events and the country also earned silver in both women’s synchro events.

Meaghan Benfeito, 26, topped the 10m platform in Kazan on April 26 while her teammates pocketed all the silver medals in the synchro and mixed events.

China remains the top nation at the Diving World Series 2015. The Chinese have claimed 34 gold medals out of 40 on offer since the beginning of the competition. Other countries with athletes on the podium in 2015 include Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and the USA.

The very last meet of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series will take place in Merida (MEX) on May 29-31. The elite divers will then have approximately two months to get ready for the FINA World Championships in Kazan from July 24 – August 9.

LIVE RESULTS AND DAILY REPORTS ON FINA.ORG

TOP STARS JET IN FOR OKPEKPE

All the invited foreign athletes confirmed for Saturday’s 3rd Okpekpe 10km road race in Okpekpe, Auchi,Edo state will jet in today according to organisers of the race.

In the travel itinerary made available to the media in Lagos by former Nigeria track and field star, Yusuf Ali, who is a member of the main organising committee for the race, all the athletes except Foimi Justilin of Cameroun will arrive Lagos from as early as 5.30 this morning till a few minutes past noon.

Foimi was expected in Lagos late Tuesday evening from Douala, Cameroun while Morocco’s Lahbabi Aziz is expected to jet in at 5.30am today.

Also expected in Lagos today are three former winners of the annual Obudu international mountain race, Abebe Dinkesa, Hunegaw Yismaw and Genet Yalew who will jet in aboard an Ethiopia Airline flight.

Meanwhile Ali has assured that Saturday’s race will be very different from the two earlier editions because of the international recognition it has received.

‘As you all know the Okpekpe 10km road race is now one of the few races the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has designated as one of the leading road races around the world. In fact we have only three of such in the African continent,’began Ali,

‘The Okpekpe race is now an IAAF bronze label race and what this means is that all rules regulating the organisation of the race as layed down by the IAAF must be strictly enforced.

‘For example the number of nations that must participate in a bronze label race must be at least four and we have satisfied this requirement by having athletes from Cameroun, Morocco, Kenya and Ethiopia who have ran faster than the standard set by the IAAF for the year.

‘We are also going to ensure the specified number of doping tests is carried out after the race while in the area of prize money,the gender equality rule is also followed such that what the male winner earns is also what the opposite sex will get,’explained Ali.

The former national and African long jump champion also revealed that the granting of the bronze label status to the race means world and area records set in Okpekpe will be recognised by the IAAF.’

Ali has also revealed that the race course which starts from Apama Road and ends in Okpekpe will be closed to vehicular traffic.

The Okpekpe 10km road race is organised by Pamodzi Sports Marketing,a leader in sports marketing, sponsorship, hospitality and rights acquisition business in Nigeria in conjunction with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and Edo state government.

The race is run over hills and sandy path and it starts in Apama road and ends in Okpekpe, a town in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State. It is located about 25 km North East of Auchi.

ITTF & IOC Presidents Meet to Discuss Additional Olympic Table Tennis Gold

Prior to the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, ITTF’s President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT met the International Olympic Committee’s President Dr. Thomas BACH in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This was the first official meeting between the two Presidents since Mr WEIKERT stepped into office in September 2014.

The main topics of conversation between the two German officials were:

Agenda 2020;
ITTF’s Development Program, which has now made it the largest International Federation with 222 National Association members;

How the IOC and the ITTF can work closer together to achieve common goals.
The two Presidents also discussed the possibility of table tennis having mixed doubles or mixed teams as fifth event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in addition to the current lineup of men’s & women’s singles and men’s & women’s teams events.

On this proposal, ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “We have tried in the past to get the mixed doubles or mixed teams in the table tennis Olympic program. My conversations with President BACH were positive, so we hope that we will have a fifth table tennis gold medal added by Tokyo 2020.”

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN

With just three days to go before the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, the excitement is already starting to mount and the traditional opening meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha has already assembled some of the sport’s top stars to get proceedings underway for the sixth year of the series on Friday (15).

Mohammed Aman, Asbel Kiprop, Mo Farah, Christian Taylor, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Sifan Hassan and Sandra Perkovic are just some of the sport’s star names that will be competing in Doha.

The likes of Kirani James, Jairus Birech, David Oliver, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Eunice Sum, Caterine Ibarguen and Yarisley Silva will be in action in Shanghai just two days later on Sunday (17).

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN credit IAAF

The IAAF is also happy to announce the return of IAAF Fantasy Athletics.

The 2015 edition of the Fantasy Diamond Race is similar to last year and follows the athletes who compete in the 32 event disciplines of the Diamond Race at the 14 meetings of the IAAF Diamond League in 2015.

This provides players with the chance to compare their athletics knowledge against fellow track and field fans from around the world via the overall leader board, and players can also set up private leagues with their friends and colleagues.

Players have to identify nine athletes at each IAAF Diamond League meeting who they think will place highest in their events and, just as with the real Diamond Race itself, points are then awarded to those finishing in the podium positions.

There are unique prizes for those players whose teams have the highest scores at each of the 14 meetings, and for the season winner who accumulates the best overall points score across all meetings

Select your provisional team

The provisional entry lists for the opening meetings in Doha and Shanghai are now available, but it is recommended that players keep checking the start lists as changes sometimes occur and corrections can be made up to the start of a meeting.

Click here to login or register for the 2015 Fantasy Diamond Race

*****

The IAAF Diamond League is composed of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and compose the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure.

This series of 14 meetings, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed among the meetings.

In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14-meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a USD$40,000 cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

IAAF

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

Nigeria Federation Cup Round of 64: Its Dolphins FC v Inter FC In Calabar

Nigeria Federation Cup Round of 64

Dolphins FC v Inter FC

Time: Kick Off 4pm

Venue: U.J, Esuene Stadium, Calabar

Date: May 13, 2015

Dolphins players celebrate FA Cup victory

TEAM NEWS

Dolphins return to the Federation Cup today, May 13, 2015, a cup they have won four times previously in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 200t.

Dolphins were also Federation Cup finalists in 2014 when they lost to Enyimba, 201 in the final.

In the spirit of continuity and blending, Stanley Eguma has taken fifteen of the players that got a draw in Oghara last Sunday to Calabar for this game against FC Inter.

Only Godbless Asamoah, Chidiebere Okolie and Ayobami failed to make the match day squad from the game in Oghara.

Ayobami and Okolie both hobbled off injured during the game in Oghara, while Asamoah didn’t make it on technical grounds.

They have been replaced by Daniel Victor, Kingsley Ashu and Igwe Nwosu.

Igwe Nwosu, who was with Dolphins feeder team may make his debut for the club if he gets to play against Inter FC on Wednesday.

MATCH PREVIEW

Since the Federation Cup took the straight knock out structure, Dolphins have been knocked out at this stage, once, in 2013.

The game was against Akwa Starlets in Umuahia and after 90 minutes finished 0-0, Dolphins lost the resultant shoot out 4-2.

In 2014, Dolphins also played a fellow Enugu based club at this stage of the competition, Ingas FC and it ended 3-1 for Dolphins, goals from Emem Eduok, Ifeanyi Egwim and Ebube Okpokwu.

Dolphins Fc

Recent form

Last five matches

5/10/15

Bayelsa United FC 2 – 2 Dolphins FC

7/5/15

Dolphins 0-0 Warri Wolves

5/3/15

Dolphins 2 – 0 Lobi Stars FC

4/26/15

Akwa United 2 – 0 Dolphins

4/22/15

Dolphins 1 – 0 Enugu Rangers

HEAD TO HEAD

Dolphins have never played against FC Inter

Match Day Squad

Sunday Rotimi

Godwin Ayalogu

Victor Ezuruike

Festus Austin

Jonathan Zikiye

Onyekachi Akakem

Rufus Ebue

Chiwendu Ali

Joseph Doujhadji

Emeka Atuloma

Igwe Nwosu

Ayo Saka

Daniel Victor

Omoh Johnson

Ifeanyi Egwim

Sochuma Elum

Kingsley Ashu

Isiaka Olawale