NFF blasts report of poor conditions in Eagles’ camp As Media Officer commend NFF for top-quality kits…,

NFF blasts report of poor conditions in Eagles’ camp…We commend NFF for top-quality kits, excellent camp conditions – Media Officer

The Nigeria Football Federation has condemned, in strong terms, a report in a national sports paper of Wednesday, 13th January 2016 which detailed imagined ‘poor conditions’ in the camp of the Super Eagles B in Pretoria, South Africa.

The said report had talked of ‘inferior’ NIKE kits being used by the team at the pre-CHAN camp in Pretoria and unsubstantiated ‘distractions here and there,’ all attributed to a nebulous ‘highly placed source’.

Toyin Ibitoye

NFF’s Assistant Director (Communications), Ademola Olajire said the report was littered with so much falsehood that it was clear the reporter was out to cause disaffection and damage morale in the camp ahead of the 4th African Nations Championship.

“The Super Eagles B delegation is heading to Rwanda on Friday (15th January). This report has come out at this time to demoralize players and officials ahead of the Championship.

“It is a shame that while the NFF is doing everything to keep the team happy and focused, and every stakeholder in Nigeria is wishing the team well, a reporter would be so committed to bringing down morale in the camp.

“Strangely, the reporter and his mysterious source admitted that Amaju Pinnick paid for assistant coach Lusciuto’s medical bills, but said it was not NFF that paid!”

The Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye, told thenff.com from Pretoria that the report is the handiwork of a detractor and that the reality on ground is far from what was painted by the reporter.

“We don’t know where the story of ‘poor conditions’ is coming from. All the officials in camp have been commending the NFF for arranging for the team to train at such a world –class facility as the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.

“The training kits are top-quality, so also the match jerseys which were brought in by the team administrator. They were kits supplied direct to the Federation by NIKE. The team trained in Abuja for two weeks before heading to Pretoria, and everyone saw the kits they used.

Super Eagles photo credit: Toyin Ibitoye

“It is uncharitable and the height of mischief for anyone to describe the kits we are using now as inferior. They are among the best anywhere in the world. The team has played two friendly matches, drawing one and winning the other. We are all in very high spirit and we are praying that the team gets it right in Rwanda in order to make the NFF and Nigeria proud.”

2016 ITF West & Central Africa Circuit: Adetunji, McLeod, Osewa headline Nigeria’s triumph

Host Nigeria continued her impressive showing at the ongoing ITF/CAT West and Central Africa Junior Championship in Abuja on Wednesday with majority of the players advancing to the knockout stage of the 12-nation tournament billed to end on Saturday.

South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji opened the floodgate of triumphs for Nigeria as she outplayed Linda Elondou of Cameroun, who is based in the US, 6-1, 6-0 to keep her perfect record in pool A of the girls’ 16&U while Angel McLeod beat Aichata Keita of Mali to also preserve her unblemished record in pool B of the category.

Timipre Maxwell beat Cameroun’s Patricia Wamba 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 to qualify from the girls’ 14&u and Rebecca Ekpeyong also progressed to the knock-out stage by beating Naa McKorly of Ghana 6-0, 6-0.

Ekiti state junior champion, Daniel Adeleye edged Ghana’s Kenneth Adzokatse in a tough match which ended 5-7, 6-3, 12-10 to stay on course for the boys’ 12&U title.

Tunisia 2015 Africa Junior Championship bronze medallist, Michael Oshewa maintained his superb form as he whitewashed Souleymane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire 6-0, 6-0 to set up a semifinal clash with Charles Alipoe of Togo, a 7-6, 6-3 winner over Musa Sani of Nigeria.

A mouth-watering semifinal clash in the Boys’ 16&u on Thursday will see Nigeria’s Christopher Itodo face Frederic Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire after both players defeated Felix Hammond of Ghana 6-3, 6-3 and Peter Lawal of Nigeria 6-7, 6-0.

in the boys’ 14&U, Friday Gabriel also defeated Cameroun’s Paul Wamba 6-0, 6-0 to set up a semifinal match-up against Eliakin Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire, who outsmarted Saminu Abubakar of Nigeria 6-2, 6-4.

CAF, AFC TO SIGN A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are set to grow closer with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday, January 15, 2016 at 11:30 AM (local time) at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda.

CAF President, Issa Hayatou, and AFC President, Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, will sign the MoU of mutual co-operation on development of football between the two confederations.

The two Presidents will be assisted by Hicham El Amrani, General Secretary of CAF and Dato’ Windsor John, General Secretary of the AFC.

The MoU which will be valid for four (4) years and open to renewal is meant to strengthen cooperation between the two confederations and provide a framework for exchanges on competitions and formation. This will be achieved through the sharing of information, experience, initiating high level competitions, conducting joint technical development programs in various fields such as: Coaching, Refereeing, Youth football, Women’s football, Integrity, Administration, Marketing, Media and Innovative technologies.

There will be a press conference to be addressed by the Presidents of CAF and AFC after signing the MoU.

Access Bank Lagos City Marathon: Media Accreditation commences

The process of accreditation for media practitioners hoping to cover the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has now been opened by the organizing committee.

Head of Media for the race, Olukayode Thomas stated that forms for the media will be available for collection at the Marathon Office at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere from Thursday, January 14th even as he added that collected forms expected to be properly filled should be returned before 28th January.

“Yes, the process for media accreditation has started, interested journalists can now pick up the forms at the Marathon Office to fill and submit promptly, the media have been an important part of this project and we hope to continue our smooth relationship. Thomas stated.

With as much as 20,000 athletes expected across the world, Thomas said the Lagos City Marathon should match other City marathons which has been a veritable way of projecting the hosting cities.

2016: A NEW EVENT ON THE AQUATIC CALENDAR

The 2016 Aquatic year will be highlighted by the introduction of a new highly anticipated event on the FINA calendar – the FINA Open Water Swim World Events 2016.

The concept of the FINA Open Water Swim World Events is to run a Mass Participation Swim Series alongside the existing FINA/HOSA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup events.

This new event, and the mass participation of non-elite open water swimmers associated with it, presents a number of significant benefits, including:

Increasing the participation in open water swimming events
Increasing the revenue for the event organisers
Raising the profile of the elite race
Providing an opportunity for additional sponsors
FINA Open Water Swim World Events’ participants will swim one lap of the elite course (generally a 2.5km or 1.6km swim) and all races will operate under the FINA guidelines respecting strict safety measures and branding policy.

during the FINA/HOSA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup in Cozumel, Saturday, May {iptcd in ay}, 2015. (CP Photo/Christian Palma)

The 2016 circuit of the mass event will consist of seven legs, usually taking place the day before or the same day than the elite race, as follows:

Patagones-Viedma (ARG) – February 6, 2016
Abu Dhabi (UAE) – February 27, 2016
Balatonfured (HUN) – June 18, 2016
Lac St Jean (CAN) – July 23, 2016
Lac Megantic (CAN) – August 12, 2016
Chun’an (CHN) – October 9, 2016
Hong Kong (HKG) – October 16, 2016

ITTF Signs Trophy Partnership Agreement with World Sport Design

The International Table Tennis Federation has signed a partnership agreement with Prague-based trophy company World Sport Design.

World Sport Design, who was also the Official Trophy Supplier of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, will be the Official Trophy Supplier of the ITTF from 2016 to 2018, providing trophies for the ITTF Star Awards and ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.

On the cooperation, ITTF President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT expressed: “The trophies at the 2015 Grand Finals were very well-designed, and I am certain that World Sport Design will continue to outdo themselves and produce prestigious trophies fitting the Star Awards and World Tour Grand Finals. We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership.”

Table tennis players will be now fighting it out for World Sport Design trophies from 2016

World Sport Design President Mr. Jiri SMIDL said: “World Sport Design specializes in creation of luxury sports trophies, medals and design sets handmade from glass, precious metals and other materials. This is the start of a long-term cooperation with ITTF, other national federations and sport event organisers. We anticipate the opportunity to deliver our design trophies to more events, with high quality awards to represent real and lasting value for the awarded.”

The race to the 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals is on, as the 2016 ITTF World Tour kick starts on 20 January 2016 with the Hungarian Open.

Egypt Capture Rio Olympic Volleyball Ticket

2016 Men’s African Olympic Qualifiers- Final

Egypt took over their compatriots Tunisia 3-2 ((25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 16-14) in the final of the 2016 Men’s African Olympic qualifier to book a ticket for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games after a thrilling encounter held at Elende Hall in Brazzaville, Congo on Tuesday.

Egypt came with a 100% in the biggest African Derby in the last 12 months with a 4th straight victory against their arch rivals after Egypt won the final of the 2015 Men’s African Nations championship 3-0, the World Cup encounter in Japan 3-2 and their first round Pool A match 3-0 in the current Olympic Qualifier before yesterday’s final .

Egypt Celebrate

This is the fourth qualification for Egypt to the finals of Olympic Games after Los Angeles 1984, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 against 6 previous qualifications for Tunisia in 1972 (Munich), 1984 (Los Angeles), 1988 (Seoul), 1996 (Atlanta), 2004 (Athens), 2012 (London).

Nyantakyi re-elected WAFU President, as body honours ‘Ibro’

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, on Tuesday presided over the Congress of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B in Accra, at which Ghana FA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi was re-elected for another four –year term.

Incumbent Nyantakyi pipped Djibrilla Hima Hamidou of Niger Republic by four votes to three, and will remain in office till year 2020.

Nyantakyi only last year won a fresh term of office as President of the Ghana Football Association – a position he has occupied since 2006.

Earlier, the presidents and general secretaries of the countries in the WAFU Zone B had observed a one-minute silence in honour of slain Head of Protocol of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Abubakar. Abubakar was killed on Wednesday last week by gunmen who invaded his house in Kado Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja.

Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick, a member of the Organizing Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations and member of the Organizing Committee for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, was returned as second vice president.

2016: ITF/AJC Circuit: Marylove Impresses Again, Quadri Storms Back With Win

Nigeria’s Marylove Edwards on Tuesday continues her great display in the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championships West & Central qualifiers with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over Serena Geli of Togo as the 12-nation tournament holding at the Tennis Centre of the National Stadium Abuja reaches its crucial stage.

The 10-year-old who is known for her double forehand and double backhand has been one of the standout performers in the 12-nation tournament having beaten her previous opponents from Ghana and Nigeria with the same score line to top her pool.

She is now on course to face her compatriot, Oyinlomo Quadri, who returned to winning ways by beating Naa McKorley of Ghana 6-1 6-2. Quadri, 12, who is now based in Morocco on a year-long ITF scholarship, suffered a shock 6-4, 6-0 loss to Patricia Wamba of Cameroun in her first match.

Nigeria also had it good in the boys’ 14&u as Michael Osewa posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Cameroun’s Paul Wamba while Gabriel Friday and Musa Sani both triumphed 6-4, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-2 against Charles Alipoe of Togo and Louis Nyarka of Ghana in the same category.

Osewa, who got bronze at the main AJC in Tunisia last year expressed confidence of winning the category while also hoping to do the same in the AJC billed for Pretoria, south Africa in march.

He said: “I’m good enough for the title here in Nigeria. My major focus is how to win the AJC title in South Africa because the two players that were above me at the last AJC from Morocco have moved to the 16&u.”

In the girls’ 16&u, Nigeria’s Angel McLeod and South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji also maintained their good form by winning 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0 against fellow Nigerians, Chidinmma Ezeh and Mariam Alli-Balogun

Christopher Itodo also matches on with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Isaac El Haya of Cote d’Ivoire in the boys’ 16&u same as Peter Lawal who defeated Jaques Sewodo of Togo 6-4, 7-6 in a match that lasted over two hours.

Nigeria’s Daniel Adeleye, Saminu Abubakar and Oiza Yakubu all lost their matches against their opponents from Togo, Gabon and Mali respectively.