The 15th qualifier of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 season will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia on Friday 24 July, attracting a field of 13 teams.
The starting order, which was determined by a draw held in Bratislava this evening, will be as follows:
1. Turkey
2. France
3. Belgium
4. Russia
5. Finland
6. Poland
7. Brazil
8. USA
9. Portugal
10. Greece
11. Czech Republic
12. Hungary
13. Slovakia
This is the sixth leg of the Europe Division 2 League, and the teams from Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia and Turkey will be eligible for Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping points. A total of 16 nations will compete in Europe Division 2 during the season, and two teams will qualify for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 Final which will take place in Barcelona, Spain from 24 to 27 September.
Friday’s competition will begin at 14.00 local time and will be broadcast live on FEI TV, the FEI’s official online video platform.
Nkechi Akachili’s game high 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists combined with Chidinma Nwakamma’s14 points and reigning Zenith Bank Women’s league MVP, chioma Udeaja’s 13 points helped defending champions First Bank to their first consecutive finals appearance since 2011. The reigning champions defeated former 4 time champions First Deepwater 68-43 in the semi finals at the ongoing Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League at the National Stadium in Lagos.
The reigning champions started rather slowly as First Deepwater raced to a 10-8 lead in the opening 5 minute. But a 10-0 run in the closing minutes of the 1st quarter from the elephant girls ensured they took an 8 point lead into the 2nd quarter 18-10. The fine run continued in the 2nd quarter with First Bank went on a 18- 9 run to lead 36-19 at half time.
However, First Deepwater came out of the locker room a different side outscoring First Bank 17-11 closing the game to 9 points in the 3rd quarter 36-47, only to run out of gas in the final quarter as the reigning champions raced to a 25 points win (68-43) in the end out scoring First Deep water 21-7 in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Head coach of First Bank Basketball club, Adewunmi Aderemi said he is confident his team will defend their title successfully on Saturday.
” All we are looking at is defending our title and representing Nigeria very well at the continental championship”.
“No one can stop us “. He added
First Bank will take on the Dolphins in the Finals for the 2nd straight year after the flamboyant FIBA Africa Zone 3 champions secured their 3rd straight finals appearance at the expense of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Queens 84-49.
The local organising committee for the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 marked the 30-day countdown to the event with a special celebration at the Beijing National Stadium on Wednesday (22).
The championships will be held in the Chinese capital from 22-30 August.
Two-time world long jump champion Heike Drechsler and 1983 world 110m hurdles silver medallist Arto Bryggare were in attendance as special guests.
During the celebrations on Wednesday, the local organising committee launched the commemorative postcards for the event and presented the official song of the championships.
Dong Changzheng, the executive vice president of Toyota Motor China, symbolically handed a key to Chen Jie, the executive secretary of the local organising committee.
No fewer than 200 Toyota cars will be used during that time for a variety of purposes, including transporting athletes and officials. They will also provide the lead timing vehicles for the road events.
In keeping with the IAAF’s Green Project and Athletics For A Better World programme, 140 of the vehicles will be environmentally friendly dual engine powered cars.
The Organising Committee for the Sunday, July 26 Grand Reception for the Athletics Federation of Nigeria President, Dr (Chief) Solomon Ogba, has announced that the event will be graced by former world 100 metres champion, American Maurice Green.
A statement by the Scribe of the Edo Sports Media Practitioners Forum, Smarts Ebodaghe, also revealed that the NFF President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is expected at the event, with the powerful NFF Disciplinary Committee Chairman, Barr. Chris Green in tow. Respected Sportscaster of note Taiye Ige, has also been listed for the A-grade event that will hold at the Adna Hotel, 28, Ladipo Bateye Close, GRA, Ikeja.
Solomon Ogba
A member of the Organising Committee and Chairman of the Edo FA, Frank Ilaboya, declared that in the coming days more dignitaries will be unveiled for the event that is expected to kick-start several others in honour of the sons and daughters of old Bendel State now Edo and Delta and Nigerian great sports achievers in general.
Executives of the body have said that the event will assume a wider dimension in the coming days, as plans have reached advanced to also honour sons and daughters of the states and beyond who have made more than a passing contribution to sports development and growth in Nigeria.
2015 Men’s African Nations Championship-Drawing of lots
The drawing of lots
Defending champions Egypt were drawn along with Algeria, Kenya and Botswana in Pool A of the 2015 Men’s African Nations Championship due to start in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday after the drawing of lots held in Le Passage Hotel in Cairo on Tuesday.
Pool B features the 2013 edition runner up Tunisia who will line up against Morocco, Mauritius, Cameroon and Rwanda.
The 2015 Men’s African Nations Championship acts as a qualifier for the 2015 World Cup as the winner and runner up book their tickets to the finals.
The drawing of lots was attended by CAVB President Dr Amr Elwani, Local Organizing committee and Egyptian Volleyball Federation President Foad Abdel Salam and the representatives of the 9 participating teams.
The 20th edition of the competition will see all the previous champions battling it out for the title led by the record holders Tunisia who have 8 titles under their name and seven time champions Egypt who won the last 5 editions. Both Algeria and Cameroon won the crown twice.
Egypt start their campaign against Kenya on Wednesday in Pool A, while Cameroon meet Mauritius and Morocco face Rwanda in Pool B.
Pool Composition
Pool A: Egypt- Algeria- Kenya- Botswana
Pool B: Tunisia- Morocco- Mauritius- Cameroon- Rwanda
The Draw for the 2015 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group play-offs was held on Tuesday at the ITF headquarters in London. The World Group play-offs will take place on 18-20 September alongside the World Group semifinals.
The winning nations in the World Group play-offs will qualify for the 2016 World Group, while the losing nations will compete in their respective Zone Group I events in 2016.
In the World Group semifinals, Great Britain will be at home to Australia, and Belgium will be at home to Argentina.
Seeds for the draw were based on the latest ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking of 20 July.
India (c) v Czech Republic (s)
Switzerland (s) (c) v Netherlands
Russia (c) v Italy (s)
Uzbekistan (c) (*) v USA (s)
Colombia (c) v Japan (s)
Dominican Republic (c) (*) v Germany (s)
Brazil (c) v Croatia (s)
Poland (c) v Slovakia (s)
(s) denotes seeded nation
(c) denotes choice of ground
(*) denotes choice of ground determined by lot
After playing two matches and getting a walk-over against Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing, five-time Olympian, Olufunke Oshonaike yesterday secured a place in the semifinal of the women’s singles at the 2015 ITTF Africa Senior Cup holding in Yaounde, Cameroon.
From the final group matches played, Oshonaike defeated Algeria’s Islem Laid 3-0 and repeated same feat against Cameroon’s Beatrice Enjema and she got a walk-over against Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing to top the group.
For leading the group, Oshonaike got a bye to the semifinal alongside Egypt’s Dina Meshref.
For the semifinal ties on Thursday, Oshonaike will battle the winner between Egypt’s Nadeen El-Dawlatly and Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou, while Egypt’s Meshref will tackle the winner between Algeria’s Islem Laid and Lynda Loghraibi.
A confident Oshonaike said she is ready to take on any opponent as she was lucky to get a good draw in the group stage. “I am happy that I got a good draw and I hope I can be in my best form so that I can make it to the final. In the final, anything can happen and I look forward to what is going to happen,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Kazeem Makanjuola also made it to quarter-final where they are expected to tackle Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin and Algeria’s Idir Khourta for places in the semi-final.
The 2015 Lagos SWAN Week Local Organising Committee has announced that Director General of the National Sports commission Alhassan Yakmut and the President of the Nigeria Football federation Amaju Pinnick will be keynote speakers at this year’s Lagos SWAN Week Seminar which takes place on the 29th of July 2015 at the Lagos SWAN Secretariat.
Director General of the NSC, Alhassan Yakmut
The Chairman Of the LOC Debo Oshundun in A Press release made available to Journalist on Monday revealed that the Lagos SWAN Week was not only about football as the Seminar as been planned to bring to the fore important Issues affecting Nigerian Sports.
The DG of the NSC, Alhassan Yakmut’s Paper will be on “Funding Sports in Nigeria” while The NFF President Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick will speak on “Globalizing Nigerian sports: A challenge for the Nigerian media”
Both Speakers have graciously agreed to Speak at this year’s seminar which scheduled to kick of at 11:00 am at the Lagos SWAN Secretariat hall inside the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.
The 2015 Lagos SWAN Week actually kicks off at four O’clock on Friday the 24th of July with a Match Between Ex-internationals And Lagos SWAN Veterans at the Legacy Pitch Of the National Stadium Surulere Lagos, while the Group Stages will commence on Monday the 27th Of July 2015.
The Finals which will also see Sports journalist compete in a “Tug Of War” competition alongside the third place play offs and finals of the football event comes up the 31st of July 2015.
Brazil and the USA are the respective men’s and women’s 2015 Pan American Team Champions after a ruthless display today in Toronto, Canada.
A sell out crowd were on hand to witness Brazil beating Paraguay 3-0 in the men’s and the USA defeating Brazil 3-0 in the women’s finals to show that they are the best teams in the Americas.
Brazil continued their dominance of the men’s team event, by beating the number 10th seeds, and the surprise packets of the competition, Paraguay to win their seventh Pan American title.
19 year old Hugo CALDERANO, who is playing in his first Pan American Games set the tone for the Brazilians, thrashing Alejandro TORANZOS 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 in the opening match in just 18 minutes.
“It is amazing that I have won gold at my first ever Pan Am Games. It was a lot of pressure playing in the first match today, but I am very pleased to have given the team the best possible start” stated the 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist.
Teammate Thiago MONTEIRO did not waste any time, putting Brazil 2-0 up, after he defeated Marcelo AGUIRRE 12-10, 11-7, 11-4. With his 3rd teams gold medal in a row around his neck, he stated: “I feel I played well today because it was the final, for us there was a lot of pressure as we were expected to win and Paraguay could just play relaxed and freely. This result has given me confidence for the singles.”
CALDERANO partnered Gustavo TSUBOI to close out the seventh Pan American title for Brazil. The Brazilian duo outpowered the Paraguayan pair of Axel GAVILAN and Marcelo AGUIRRE 13-11, 12-10, 11-4 to seal a memorable gold medal.
The silver medal for Paraguay was their first ever medal in the table tennis events at a Pan American Games; furthermore, it ranks alongside their best in any sport in the quadrennial gathering.
Team USA won their sixth Pan American Women’s title by defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final.
Brazil, who were the number one seeds heading into the event, were looking for their first Women’s team title, but were no match for the Americans.
Jiaqi ZHENG gave the USA team a perfect start, defeating Lin GUI 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 in the opening fixture.
Celebratory selfie by the Women’s Team medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games!
ZHENG, who is a traditional penholder stated: “Before the match I was very nervous, as this means the world to me. It was the first told I played GUI, so I just tried to attack her as much as possible. I was very happy I could give the team a winning start.”
2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Lily ZHANG kept up the momentum by saving one match point to defeat Caroline KUMUHARA in the second game 11-3, 7-11, 11-4, 5-11, 12-10. A delighted 19 year old stated after the match: “We know each other so well, we have played many times. In the fifth game I tried not to think of the score, just about playing my style and keeping a clear head. It is an amazing feeling to be the champion. Words can’t describe how happy I am”
To clinch the gold, Jiaqi ZHENG partnered with Yue WU to beat Gui LIN & Silva LIGIA in the doubles 12-10, 11-6, 11-8.
Puerto Rico created history in both the men’s and women’s teams event by claiming bronze, which is their first ever table tennis Pan American Games medal. They were joined on the bronze medal podium by the hosts Canada, who also won bronze in the men’s and women’s team events.
The 2015 Pan American table tennis event continues tomorrow with the commencement of the singles event, which runs until Saturday 25 July 2015.
The headlines last weekend may have been dominated by Genzebe Dibaba’s world record, but the Monaco leg of the IAAF Diamond League also laid the groundwork for a thrilling end to the 2015 track and field season.
Saturday’s results mean that many of the 32 Diamond Races now rest on a knife edge ahead of the finals in September.
The men’s triple jump, for example, has this season been the scene of a wonderfully dogged comeback from Christian Taylor. Only two weeks ago, the US athlete was a full six points behind Pablo Pedro Pichardo. Two nerve-wracking head-to-heads with the Cuban later, Taylor has narrowed that gap to just two points, having emerged victorious in both Lausanne and Monaco.
Joe Kovacs, too, has risen to the challenge of his two-horse race with David Storl in the men’s shot put. The German double world champion has managed to maintain a slender lead over Kovacs for most of the season, but his last-minute withdrawal from Monaco left the door ajar for the US champion. Kovacs’s victory in Monaco means that the two men are now level on 10 points and three wins heading into the final.
The closest Diamond Races
The women’s 100m hurdles Diamond Race was close enough even before Monaco, but Sharika Nelvis’s triumph there has only added to the excitement. Her victory prevented previous joint leaders Jasmin Stowers and Dawn Harper Nelson from pulling away, and leaves all three women tied in first place with one meeting to go.
The men’s 5000m is almost as close, with victories spread so thinly that only five points separate the top 13 competitors. It is so close that, theoretically, anyone competing in the Brussels final would be able to claim the Diamond Trophy, even if they arrived with no points to their name.
Renaud Lavillenie went into Monaco knowing that a win was almost imperative if he is to win a sixth consecutive Diamond Trophy in the men’s pole vault. That win came, but he is still only three points ahead of Konstantinos Filippidis.
In the women’s 200m, Jeneba Tarmoh’s third-place finish in Monaco puts her a single point behind leader Allyson Felix.
With one half of the draw now set for the final, attention turns to the 16 disciplines which will be on show in London and Stockholm. In these Diamond Races, there are still three opportunities for athletes to pick up points, and once again, there are some mouth-watering title races.
Greg Rutherford and Barbara Spotakova have the slimmest lead possible in the men’s long jump and women’s javelin respectively. Both are tied on points with their closest challenger, and lead only due to having notched up more victories.
Also two points ahead of the chasing pack is Anaso Jobodwana, who holds the lead in the men’s 200m despite not having notched up a single victory. Hot on his heels are Christophe Lemaitre, Zharnel Hughes, Justin Gatlin and Alonso Edward, all of whom are tied in second place.
In the men’s high jump, Mutaz Essa Barshim is only two points ahead of surprise package Zhang Guowei, and must also keep a close eye on long-term rival Bogdan Bondarenko.
Dominant forces
There are, of course, those athletes who have bucked the trend, and continued to dominate their chosen event with aplomb this season. Sandra Perkovic and Tianna Bartoletta need only to turn up to the final to claim the Diamond Trophy.
Yet not all leads are unassailable. Five athletes will head to the final stages with a lead of six points, theoretically slim enough to allow for a late upset.
Among the rest, 110m hurdler David Oliver and discus thrower Piotr Malachowski will be looking to defend their five-point leads in London and Stockholm, while Eunice Sum and Genzebe Dibaba are similarly positioned with six-point leads in the women’s 800m and 5000m respectively.
As it stands, at least 14 of the 32 Diamond Races will now definitely be decided in either Zurich or Brussels. Should London and Stockholm throw up the sort of unpredictability we have seen in the rest of the season, it could well be more than 14 that go right to the wire.
Nigeria will be going to Tunisia in search for her first ever Afrobasket crown having suffered a disappointing outing in times past and most recently in the quarterfinal to Senegal in Abidjan 2013.
Under the tutelage of new coach, American, William Voigt, the D’Tigers will be hoping to put off the tag of nearly men and rule Africa for the first time in Tunisia come August 19th-30th.
The team will be headlined by NBA Stars Al Farouq Aminu and Ekpe Udoh who will be making his first appearance for Nigeria while the likes of Alfarouq’s older brother Alade, Ike Diogu, Benjamin Uzoh, Stanley Okoye, Andy Ogide, Jamal Olasewere, Stanley Gumut and veteran Olumide Oyedeji makes a return from Afrobasket 2013 in Abidjan.
Nigeria Basketball Team D’Tigers, photo credit Femi Adefeso
Also making a return is Chamberlain Oguchi and Derrick Obasohan who were part of the London 2012 Olympics, and home based stars Abubakar Usman and Yahaya Abdul.
Others are Deji Akindele, Micheal Umeh, Eric Oluwaseun, Obekpa Chris and Ofoegbu Ikechukwu with the likes of Edo Karachi, Akinlolu Akingbala, Ebie Jason, Elonu Chinemelu, Gbinije Micheal, Olaseni Lawal and Talib Zanna get their first taste of the national team.
The team leaves Abuja tonight for Paris, France to participate in an invitational tournament from July 22-27. They continue their preparation in Paris and leave for Tunis on August 15 for Afrobasket which begins on August 19 – 30, 2015.
The planned grand reception for Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), President, Dr Solomon Ogba by the Edo Sports Media Practitioners, will now hold this Sunday, July 26, 2015 in Lagos, according the body’s Chairman, Osaretin Emuze and Scribe Smarts Ebodaghe in a release.
The event which is to celebrate Ogba, over his recent award of a Honorary doctorate degree, by the prestigious University of Port Harcourt for his robust contribution to sports development will hold at Adna Hotel in Ikeja, the Lagos state capital from 6pm prompt.
Solomon Ogba
Expected to chair the event is the Chairman of Channels Television, Mr John Momoh, while Brila FM boss, Dr Larry Izamoje, is expected to headline the list of dignitaries that includes Dan Ngerem, Aisha Falode, Edo FA Chairman, Frank Ilaboya, Hon Tom Joel Onowakpor and all Sports Editors and Managers of sports in electronic media outfits..
Emuze declared that the event will kick-start many others being planned by the body to honour illustrious indigenes especially from the former Bendel State, now Edo and Delta, for their contributions not only to their states but sports. “Even the likes of John Momoh and Larry Izamoje are also on the radar because they have done more than enough for sports development in the country and soon we will unveil our plans for them.
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