Arsenal’s Talisman and enterprising forward Alexis Sanchez is billed to return to action for the club before Christmas and in time for the London club’s clash with Manchester City.
Sanchez was injured in the Gunners’ one all draw against Norwich city in November. Manager Arsene Wenger revealed this during his press conference as the North London Club Prepare to face Aston Villa away at Villa Park Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners have won their last two games without Sanchez scoring 6 goals and conceding just one. Wenger’s lads defeated Sunderland 3-1 at home then went to Greece to defeat Olympiacos in the Champions League by 3 un-replied goals.
Although the gunners have managed very well without Alexis Sanchez his return will give a massive boost to the gunners in their bid to win the English premier league again.
The Chilean Forward Also Posted a photo of himself training on Instagram and twitter as captured by the tweet below.
Manchester United Manager’s job just got harder with nine of his first team players either out with injuries or suspended, German Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has been suspended by the FA for 3 games, while Luke Shaw And Antonio Valencia have both undergone surgery and are not expected back until next year.
Ander Herrera, Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian are expected to return to action before christmas while Captain Wayne Rooney and Phil Jones Should join the squad just before the new year.
Van Gaal has come under a lot of criticism lately due to the poor string of results his team as put together and fans are beginning to question the “Van Gaal Way”.
The Man United under the Dutch manager tend to keep possession of the ball a lot but find it difficult to turn possession into goals.
Manchester United’s Chris Smalling also out injured
Van Gaal has his work cut out for him though, especially with the way the team crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday against Wolfsburg in Germany, and this long list of injured players will definitely have a bearing on the way the team plays.
United Academy product have however had a chance to stake a claim to the first team spots with players like Guillermo Varela, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, featuring in the Champions League game against Wolfsburg they just might become a regular feature in the United line up this season, On the bright side Morgan Schneiderlin is available for selection against Bournemouth.
Meanwhile the Man United en of year party has been called off following the recent spate of poor results.
Sunday “Capo” Olalekan, the dreadlocked, hard-punching Light Welterweight boxer, has declared that he will win the National Light Welterweight boxing title at the GOtv Boxing Night on 26 December. He also sees himself winning the N1.5million cash prize for the best boxer of the night.
Capo will be fighting Stanley “Edo Boy” Eribo at the tournament billed to hold at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos. The prize was introduced during the first edition of GOtv Boxing Night in March 2014 and became more attractive when a cash of NI million and the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy were introduced as accompaniments.
GOtv, headline sponsors of the tournament, have added an extra half a million naira for the forthcoming edition.
Speaking in Lagos during the week, Capo, who is currently in a training camp, said: ” I heard that Eribo has been boasting. No problem. He will eat his words at the GOtv Boxing Night. I have beaten better boxers. I do not see how Eribo can stand between me and the title,” he said.
Sunday Capo Olalekan
Other fights billed to hold at the event include the African Boxing Union Featherweight title clash between Nigeria’s Waidi “Skoro” Usman and Uganda’s Edward “Shaka” Kakembo.
Similarly, Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi will take on Sadiq Ahmed, National Welterweight champion, in a title fight.
The fourth fight will feature Sunday “Golden Child” Ajuwa and Rasheed “Afonja Warrior” Abolaji in a Super Middleweight national challenge contest.
The event is supported by MultiChoice and SuperSport.
Following last month’s historic Pinchuk vs Graf bout on the Fury vs Klitschko undercard in Dusseldorf, the next phase of AIBA Pro Boxing involves a thrilling Saturday night of boxing in Kyiv this weekend. The city’s Palace of Sports venue will see Ukrainian Dmytro Mytrofanov take on Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado ahead of K2 Promotions’ hotly anticipated headline event – the fans’ favourite and Olympic heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title fight against Cuba’s Pedro Rodriguez.
Middleweight Mytrofanov joined the Ukrainian national team in 2008 and has been building his way to the top ever since. Following two successful seasons with WSB, the 26 year-old joined the AIBA Pro Boxing circuit in October 2014, defeating Romania’s Bogdan Juratoni, Egypt’s Hossam Hussein Bakr Abdin (twice) and France’s Michel Tavares.
His opponent on Saturday night will be Ecuador’s London 2012 Olympian Marlo Delgado. “I am really excited to be a part of this APB match. Mytrofanov is a very strong boxer, but I have trained hard ahead of the bout and I’m confident that we can deliver a true showcase of boxing for the fans in Kyiv,” said Delgado ahead of the bout.
APB stars Mytrofanov and Delgado prepare for Kyiv contest on boxing’s big night in Ukraine
Another Ukrainian, the experienced light welterweight Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn, will also be entering the Palace of Sports ring on Saturday night, determined to round off the year with a precious win as he takes on Qatari APB newcomer Thulasi Tharumalingam.
“I hope to have a big home crowd behind me. The training sessions have gone great, I am in good shape and I am ready to put in a strong performance infront of my home fans,” said Kyslytsyn.
German-born Tharumalingam won his opening APB match in September against Ding Tianlong of China and will also need little motivation to get a result against the home boxer and go into the Olympic year on a high.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the groups and schedule of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, which will be staged across eight venues in India from 8 March to 3 April.
A total of 58 tournament matches, including 35 men’s matches and 23 women’s matches, will be played in the 27-day tournament in Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. New Delhi and Mumbai will host the semi-finals on 30 and 31 March, respectively, while Eden Gardens in Kolkata will be the venue of the 3 April finals. The women’s semi-finals and final will be followed by the men’s knock-out matches. There is a reserve day for the finals.
The men’s event will carry a total prize money of $5.6million, which is an 86 per cent increase from the 2014 tournament, while the total prize money for the women’s event is $400,000, which is a 122 per cent increase from the Bangladesh event.
There have been five different winners of the men’s event while the England women’s team won the inaugural tournament at home in 2009 before Australia won three straight titles in the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2010, 2012 and 2014, respectively.
According to the men’s event format, eight sides in two groups of four, will feature in the first round matches with the group winners joining eight sides in the Super 10 stage (two groups of five teams). The top two sides from both the Super 10 Groups will then qualify for the semi-finals. In the women’s event, the 10 sides will be divided into two groups and the top two sides from each group will progress to the semi-finals.
The first round matches in the men’s event will take place in Dharamsala and Nagpur from 8-13 March and will feature Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, debutant Oman (all in Group A), Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and Afghanistan (all in Group B). In a double-header on the opening day on 8 March, Zimbabwe will face Hong Kong in the afternoon match, to be followed by the evening match between Scotland and Afghanistan. Both the matches will be played in Nagpur.
The group winners will join Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and host India in the Super 10 stage, which will be played alongside the women’s event from 15-28 March.
Men’s defending champion Sri Lanka has been placed in Super 10 Group 1 along with South Africa, West Indies, England and the Group B winner. It will open its title defence against the Group B winner in Kolkata on 17 March, and play West Indies in Bengaluru on 20 March, England in New Delhi on 26 March and South Africa in New Delhi on 28 March.
Host India, which won the inaugural tournament in South Africa in 2007, is in Super 10 Group 2 along with 2009 winner Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and the Group A winner. India will launch its campaign in Nagpur against New Zealand on 15 March, while it will go head to head with Pakistan in Dharamsala on 19 March. Its other matches will be against the Group A winner in Bengaluru on 23 March and Australia in Mohali on 27 March.
2009 champion Pakistan will take on the Group A winner in Kolkata on 16 March, before locking horns with traditional rival India in Dharamsala on 19 March. Its remaining two matches will be in Mohali against New Zealand and Australia on 22 and 25 March, respectively.
England, which won the 2010 tournament in the West Indies, takes on 2012 winner the West Indies in Mumbai on 16 March, followed by matches against South Africa (18 March in Mumbai), the Group B winner (23 March in New Delhi) and Sri Lanka (26 March in New Delhi).
After taking on England in its tournament opener, the West Indies will square off against Sri Lanka (20 March in Bengaluru), South Africa (25 March in Nagpur) and the Group B winner (27 March in Nagpur).
Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, 2009 champion England is in Group B along with the West Indies, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and will start off against Bangladesh in Bengaluru on 17 March. Its other matches will be against India (22 March in Dharamsala), West Indies (24 March in Dharamsala) and Pakistan (27 March in Chennai).
Australia women, who will be bidding to win the title for the fourth straight time, is in Group A along with South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland. Their opening match will be against South Africa (18 March in Nagpur), followed by matches against New Zealand (21 March in Nagpur), Sri Lanka (24 March in New Delhi) and Ireland (24 March in New Delhi).
ICC Chairman Mr Shashank Manohar, who attended the launch ceremony in Mumbai, said: “India is a country where cricket is a religion and not many places can match the passion for the game like India. I am fully confident that the Board of Control for Cricket in India will deliver an outstanding world cricket event, just like the ICC Cricket World Cups in 1987, 1996 and 2011.
“The ICC and BCCI are fully committed and will work together to make this a memorable event. I invite fans from across the world to witness fast-paced cricketing action on the field and enjoy the hospitality and culture of India, off it.”
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC World Twenty20 is an event which puts the world’s best cricketers in the shortest format of the game against each other in a nation versus nation contest.
“The Twenty20 format provides the perfect vehicle by which the ICC can further globalise the game, providing international exposure and opportunity to our top Associate and Affiliate members. The ICC World Twenty20 event structure is designed to provide highly competitive matches throughout, with eight evenly-matched sides fighting it out in the first round and the best two then getting in the mix with the top eight ranked teams in the Super 10 stage where the intensity and competition will be of the very highest level.”
BCCI Secretary Mr Anurag Thakur said: “We, as hosts, are fully prepared to organise one of the most entertaining spectacles in world cricket. We draw experience from hosting three ICC Cricket World Cups and are ready to make the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 one of the most memorable events.
“Our preparations are in full swing, and BCCI and ICC is working together to make it a lifetime experience for the players and the fans. India is a vibrant country – young, full of colour, energy and exuberance – and is very much like the concept of Twenty20 cricket itself. We would encourage everyone involved with the game to experience the best of India.”
The ICC World Twenty20 trophy was also present at the ceremony before it leaves Mumbai for Scotland on Sunday, 13 December, as part of the Nissan Trophy Tour. The trophy will return to New Delhi on 1 February after visiting 11 countries.
Men’s
First round (group winners to progress to second round)
Group A – Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland and Oman
Group B – Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and Afghanistan
Second round groups
Super 10 Group 1 – Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, England and winner group B (Q1B)
Super 10 Group 2 – India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and winner group A (Q1A)
Women’s
Group A – Australia (A1), South Africa (A2), New Zealand (A3), Sri Lanka (A4) and Ireland (A5)
Group B – England (B1), West Indies (B2), India (B3), Pakistan (B4) and Bangladesh (B5)
Tournament schedule (‘M’ denotes men’s match; ‘W’ denotes women’s match; PM means afternoon match and Eve. means night match. Match timings to be confirmed in due course)
Tue, 8 Mar – Zimbabwe v Hong Kong (PM), Nagpur; Scotland v Afghanistan (Eve.), Nagpur
Wed, 9 Mar – Bangladesh v Netherlands (PM), Dharamsala; Ireland v Oman (Eve.), Dharamsala
Thu, 10 Mar – Scotland v Zimbabwe (PM), Nagpur; Hong Kong v Afghanistan (Eve.)
Fri, 11 Mar – Netherlands v Oman (PM), Dharamsala; Bangladesh v Ireland (Eve.), Dharamsala
Sat, 12 Mar – Zimbabwe v Afghanistan (PM), Nagpur; Scotland v Hong Kong (Eve.), Nagpur
Sun, 13 Mar – Netherlands v Ireland (PM), Dharamsala; Bangladesh v Oman (Eve.), Dharamsala
Tue, 15 Mar – India v Bangladesh (PM), Bengaluru; New Zealand v Sri Lanka (Eve.), New Delhi; New Zealand v India (M) (Eve), Nagpur
Wed, 16 Mar – West Indies v England (M) (PM), Mumbai; Pakistan v Q1A (M) (Eve.), Kolkata; West Indies v Pakistan (Eve.), Chennai
Thu, 17 Mar – England v Bangladesh (PM), Bengaluru; Sri Lanka v Q1B (M) (Eve.), Kolkata
Fri, 18 Mar – New Zealand v Ireland (PM), Mohali; Australia v New Zealand (M) (PM), Dharamsala; South Africa v England (M) (Eve.), Mumbai; Australia v South Africa (Eve.), Nagpur
Sat, 19 Mar – India v Pakistan (PM), New Delhi; India v Pakistan (M) (Eve.), Dharamsala
Sun, 20 Mar – South Africa v Q1B (M) (PM), Mumbai; West Indies v Bangladesh (PM), Chennai; Sri Lanka v Ireland (Eve.), Mohali; Sri Lanka v West Indies (M) (Eve.), Bengaluru
Mon, 21 Mar – Australia v New Zealand (PM), Nagpur; Australia v Q1A (M) (Eve.), Bengaluru
Tue, 22 Mar – England v India (PM), Dharamsala; New Zealand v Pakistan (M) (Eve.), Mohali
Wed, 23 Mar – England v Q1B (M) (PM), New Delhi; India v Q1A (M), (Eve.), Bengaluru; South Africa v Ireland (Eve.), Chennai
Thu, 24 Mar – England v West Indies (Eve.), Dharamsala; Australia v Sri Lanka (PM), New Delhi; Pakistan v Bangladesh (Eve.), New Delhi
Fri, 25 Mar – Pakistan v Australia (M) (PM), Mohali; South Africa v West Indies (M), (Eve.), Nagpur
Sat, 26 Mar – Australia v Ireland (PM), New Delhi; Q1A v New Zealand (M) (PM), Kolkata; England v Sri Lanka (M) (Eve.), New Delhi; South Africa v New Zealand (Eve.), Bengaluru
Sun, 27 Mar – West Indies v India (PM), Mohali; India v Australia (M) (Eve.), Mohali; England v Pakistan (Eve.), Chennai; Q1B v West Indies (M) (PM), Nagpur;
Mon, 28 Mar – South Africa v Sri Lanka (PM), Bengaluru; South Africa v Sri Lanka (M) (Eve.), New Delhi
Tue, 29 Mar – Rest/travel day
Wed, 30 Mar – Women’s semi-final (2nd group A v 1st group B) (PM), New Delhi; men’s semi-final (Super 10 Group 1 2nd v Super 10 Group 2 1st) (Eve.), New Delhi
Thu, 31 Mar – Women’s semi-final (1st group A v 2nd group B) (PM), Mumbai; men’s semi-final (Super 10 Group 1 2nd v Super 10 Group 2 1st) (Eve.), Mumbai
Fri, 1 Apr – Rest/travel day
Sat, 2 Apr – Rest/travel day
Sun, 3 April – Women’s final (PM), Kolkata; men’s final (Eve.), Kolkata
THE 90-DAY PROVISIONAL SUSPENSION IMPOSED ON MICHEL PLATINI REMAINS IN FORCE, BUT FIFA IS ORDERED NOT TO EXTEND IT
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has partially upheld the request for provisional measures filed by Michel Platini requesting that his 90-day provisional suspension from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international levels be lifted until a final decision on the merits of the dispute is taken by the FIFA Ethics Committee.
On 20 November 2015, Michel Platini filed an appeal against the FIFA Appeal Committee decision, notified on 18 November 2015, confirming the decision rendered on 7 October 2015 by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee to impose a provisional ban of 90 days on him. The 90-day period expires on 5 January 2016.
The CAS Panel, composed of Mr Clifford Hendel (France/USA), President, Mr Rui Botica Santos (Portugal) and Prof. Ulrich Haas (Germany), determined that maintaining the provisional suspension for the remainder of the 90 days does not cause irreparable harm to Michel Platini at this point in time. Indeed, the CAS Panel has noted that, at the hearing of 8 December 2015, FIFA’s representatives confirmed FIFA’s assurances expressed earlier that the FIFA Ethics Committee would render its final decision on the merits on or before 5 January 2016, i.e. before the provisional suspension comes to an end.
The CAS Panel also emphasized that, even if the ban were lifted at this time, such measure would not give any guarantee to Michel Platini that the FIFA ad hoc electoral committee would validate his candidature for the FIFA presidential election before 5 January 2016.
However, the CAS Panel considered that the situation would change if FIFA were to extend the provisional suspension for any period up to 45 days, on the basis of “exceptional circumstances” as permitted by Art. 85 of the FIFA Code of Ethics. The Panel found that such an extension would constitute an undue and unjustified restriction of Michel Platini’s right of access to justice, cause irreparable harm to him and also tip the balance of interest test in his favour.
As a consequence, the CAS Panel ordered FIFA not to extend the current provisional suspension imposed on Michel Platini.
Melbourne put the whitest cloth and the best silverware on the table for the 900 plus Victorian, interstate and international sailors on day two of the Sailing World Cup Melbourne, the first stop of the six stage series.
The morning began with the hilarity of the inaugural Opti Olympic challenge when five Australian Olympic gold medallists and other high profile sailors took on some switched on Optimist kids in a novelty race that drew a great crowd at St Kilda sailing precinct for a fun start to the day. Out of the blatant cheating, paddling, tackling on the beach and water pistols, the youth sailors cleaned up the results.
When the serious competition began, sailors in the Olympic, Paralympic and invited divisions were greeted with light and cool winds and like yesterday the breeze moved into double figures as the day wore on, giving the afternoon session’s competitors 16 knots of cool SSE wind and stunning summer sunshine to play in.
Laser Radial
Susannah Pyatt (NZL) surprised herself when she popped into the overall lead after smashing out two first places in the Laser Radial. “Today was similar to what we had in Oman for the Worlds with a steady breeze and nice waves. I have done a lot of training in similar conditions.”
In equal second on the progressive results sheet after four of eight races in the series is a disappointed Ashley Stoddart (AUS) who scored two seconds on the Port Melbourne course. “I set a goal to chase Susannah down, but she did a good job to cover me on the upwinds,” Stoddart acknowledged.
Third overall is Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR).
A quarter way into their competition Australian sisters Jacinta Ainsworth, 18, and Elyse, 16, are a single point and place apart from a total fleet of 20 sailing in the women’s Olympic class boat.
“It’s good that we are on the same level, over the last 12 months Elyse has really stepped up,” said Jacinta. “Being close is working in our favour.”
Laser
Twenty six year-old Rio contender Colin Cheng (SIN) qualified his country for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games last year and this afternoon he leads the men’s Laser fleet by two points from Thomas Saunders (NZL).
“This is a big year, we are putting a lot of effort into the Olympics,” said Cheng as he approaches selection for the second time having made the London team, finishing 15th. “It’s always a balance trying not to burn out when I’m full time sailing. I’m pretty happy with my fitness, though it could always be better, and it’s at a level I can purely focus on my sailing.”
SKUD18
Current world and Olympic champions Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) continued their dominance on the Hobsons course near the port of Williamstown, winning both of today’s races. Great Britain’s Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell stayed on trend with a 3-2 day to remain second overall. Third is Monika Gibes and Piotr Cichocki (POL).
The Netherland’s Rolf Schrama and Sandra Nap, having qualified their country for the 2016 Paralympic Games at last week’s World Championship out of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, are desperate to achieve top results to go towards their national team selection. Today’s 6-4 results will require discussion with their coach Schrama admitted. “Our downwind wasn’t very good and our upwind were okay. It was great racing, but our results weren’t good.”
Other Olympic class results
Carrie Smith and Jamie Ryan (AUS) are not giving any opportunities away and lead the 470 women’s fleet with a perfect score of four wins from four. It’s the same result in the men’s 470 division that is dominated by the Conway brothers of Alex and Patrick from Australia.
Two more bullets for David Gilmour and Rhys Mara (AUS) keeps them in pole position in the 49er fleet while in the smaller rig 49erFX class Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks (AUS) also hold the top spot.
Josip Olujic (CRO) is proving a thorn in the side of local favourite and event ambassador Oli Tweddell (AUS) in the Finn class, the pair are divided by two points with three days remaining until the Gold Medal showdown on Sunday December 13, 2015.
Germany’s Florian Gruber is making merry in the consistent winds in the IKA Formula Kite division, posting another day of back to back wins in four of the six races to be leading the series by eight points.
Invited classes
The fluttering of 102 tiny white mainsails as the eager Optimist sailors headed away from St Kilda Beach heralded the start of the Invited classes section of the annual summertime regatta Melbourne has hosted for seven years. Drawn from clubs across Australia and New Zealand, the junior sailors completed two opening races in perfect conditions.
Both New Zealand’s Yachting Trust Youth Team and the Australian Youth Sailing Team are among the sailors utilising the Laser Radial (men’s and women’s), RS:X, 29er and large 420 fleet competition to prepare for the Youth Sailing World Championships in Malaysia later this month.
In the background, the silky Viper catamaran fleet of Australian, New Zealand and New Caledonian entries were enjoying reasonably smooth bay conditions and low flying their way around the course with plenty of pace and salt spray flying to the delight of the photographers.
The Open Bic’s 28-boat fleet and the Minnows shared a course area, showing off to their fellow French competitors in the ideal conditions and this afternoon the 29ers, Laser Radials, Laser 4.7s and Liberty classes had their turn.
A strong wind warning is in place for Friday for Port Phillip with forecast westerly winds increasing to 20-25 knots in the morning and by midday they could be as strong as 20-30 knots out of the west to south-west.
Check out some Adventures of a Sailor Girl from the second day of Sailing World Cup Melbourne below:
Sailing World Cup Melbourne Day 2: Hansen & Colley
Kurt Hansen and Jim Colley are using Sailing World Cup Melbourne and Sail Sydney as preparation events for the World Sailing Youth Championships. Was great to chat to them about pathways, training in their backyard at events like the Sailing World Cup, and what we can expect from the next generation.
URL – https://youtu.be/CL1u2yDA0BA
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I want to congratulate you on your appointment as the number one sports administrator in Nigeria and I wish you a productive regime in office.
Having said that, Sir, I want to bring to your attention the things that are not properly done or overlooked in Football and Basketball especially – two of the most popular sports in Nigeria.
First of all, there is an urgent need for you to look into the issue of contract signing for the victorious U17 boys, the NFF said via a press release that they will not allow any agent to sign the boys. This is not in their remit, but making regulations and passing them through their successive programmes of development, where one percent of any such transfer go to the federation, according to international standard as practised in England and the world over.
Golden Eaglets Singing the National Anthem
Their responsibility and duty is in players discovery, development and nurturing to enable them to perform to the best of their abilities and patriotism for the greater good of the nation and themselves, which they have done. The players are entitled to sign pre-contracts and professional contract agreements before and when they clock 18. The NFF proclamations was under the guise that they don’t want them to sign slave contracts, which is no business of theirs but to guide, advise and support rather than the indecent backdoor football agency creation by the FA.
The NFF can only make laws regarding a legitimate age a player can sign a pre-contract or professional contract and not indulge in player trading. It was widely circulated in the media that the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick personally introduced Victor Osimhen to Arsenal FC. This is illegal and fraudulent because he is not a FIFA Licensed agent.
NFF does not have the rights to sell or stop players from signing for any club.
Meanwhile, they are allowing academies to do talent hunts, taking kids abroad. Just last week, some came to Abuja to do a talent hunt show, these are the people they need to look out for in order to protect the players in other to avoid slave contracts. They have to put the regulations in place. Please Sir, it will be beneficial to the players’ careers and the nation to implore them to sign their ITC.
Concerning the issue of kit sponsors, it is such a shame that a nation as big as ours, the so called giant of Africa signed a shoddy contract. Players attending tournaments without adequate kits, each of them got only a jersey which they had to wash and re-use for the next game. Please look into this matter, it is a disgrace. Adidas was our sponsor with retainership fee while Nike is neither bringing money nor kits as recently and currently exposed. Sir, please investigate the Nike contract.
On the issue of sponsorship, the NFF claimed that Arik Air and Zenith banks were the co-sponsors of some FA chairmen who were sent to London for a training which is clearly unnecessary. The federation claimed to be broke but had the money to sponsor FA Chairmen on a training ahead of their Annual General Meeting, is it to avoid impeachment or for acceptance as their Annual General Meeting beckons? The FA chairmen accepted, instead of them to ask the FA to use the money to offset some bills. The FA is broke Sir, they are owing all the National Teams, including coaches. The NFF playing to the gallery were praising Arik, Sir, can you request for the sponsorship proofs with these ones?
lt is imperative that the NFF should create an Insurance policy for all their athletes, this is rising from a player – Gloria Ofoegbu who got injured while she was playing for Nigeria. The NFF neglected her and even denounced her that she didn’t get the injury whilst playing for the Nation. Despite all the pleas, it entailed the involvement of a good Samaritan to help conduct a surgery for her. She is amongst many others, suffering from the lack of adequate insurance policy for the national team players hence players playing better for clubs than country because they will end up saying if they got injured no one will treat them, conversely devoting themselves to their clubs than their country as they are better looked after both medically and academically.
GLORIA OFOEGBU
Basketball is the second most popular sports in Nigeria, Sir, the Federation is one of the poorest with little or no money attached to them. They are reaping the reward of their perseverance, determination, and the love for the sport and their nation with recent successes, irrespective of the lack of adequate investment and sponsorship. I think you should deem it fit to support them and encourage future generations by allocating them enough facilities and resources to enable them develop the game in the Nigeria.
Swimming pool of the National Stadium Surulere
Finally Sir, since your appointment two months ago, we are yet to hear about the policies you want to make for sports apart from fighting corruption in Nigeria. Good to know you have checked out equipment and stadium facilities but there is a huge need for you to do more by cutting out social activities and settling down to get to work as we know that it took the president a long time to appoint ministers. By now we expect you to start putting committees that will work with you together, good heads and experienced hands that can help your sojourn in office.
(PM), Bengaluru; New Zealand v Sri Lanka 
newfanzone 