Madagascar’s resilience and crafty ball handling skills got earned them promotion into the Under-20 Barthes Cup after they broke the hearts of spirited Zimbabwe 25-27 at Prince Edward High School. This win for Madagascar comes of the back on a massive 65-0 against Morocco in their opening match giving them the top spot in the […]
via RUGBY: Madagascar Beat Zimbabwe To Earn Under-20 Barthes Cup Promotion — finixsportsblog
The Nigeria Tennis Federation has called for support from the Sports Ministry following Nigeria’s listing for this year’s Davis Cup Africa Zone III championship billed for Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The International Tennis Federation on Monday soft-pedalled on possible sanctions for Nigeria despite the last-minute withdrawal of the country from the 2015 edition in Cairo, Egypt which fuelled speculations that the country would be penalized.
However, Nigeria was included in the draw made in its London headquarters on Monday which indicated that there won’t be any sanctions for the country.
NTF President Sani Ndanusa while expressing gratitude to the ITF pleaded to the Sports Ministry for early release of funds to ensure its participation at the four-day tournament billed for the clay courts of the Antanarivo University.
“This is our New Year present from the ITF and we are not surprised because if there’s any country that the ITF has to be lenient with then it has to be Nigeria; our commitment to tennis has never been in doubt.
“Just last month, we hosted the Governor’s Cup championship which is among the top-rated Circuits in the ITF calendar. And in the next few days we will be hosting the Africa Junior Championship West and Central Africa Qualifiers which will be featuring about fourteen countries. This is the second time in barely two years that we will be hosting the event. We also hosted the AJC proper in 2010.
“So this has put us in the good books of the ITF but that is not to say we will be taking them for granted. We will make sure that we put in place all modalities that will not only see us participate but go for one of the promotion tickets this year,” Ndanusa assured.
Alongside the hosts, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda are the other countries that will feature in the tournament.
Zone 7 Club Championship final
Gendarmerie men’s team from Madagascar and Anse Royale from Seychelles emerged as Zone 7 Club Championship held in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Gendarmerie beat Beau Vallon of Seychelles in the final of Men’s competition, while Anse Royale clinched the women’s competition after topping Stef Auto of Madagascar.
Ian Furneau from Beau Vallon was chosed as the men’s competition best player, while Bonne Jerina from Anse Royale was the women’s MVP.
Medallists
Men
WINNER: GENDARMERIE MADAGASCAR
RUNNER UP : BEAU VALLON SEYCHELLES
3RD POSITION: ASI MADAGASCAR
Women
WINNER: ANSE ROYALE SEYCHELLES
RUNNER UP: STEF AUTO MADAGASCAR
3RD POSITION: AZUR SC MAURITIUS
Final Ranking
Men
Rank Team Code Country
1 GENDARMERIE GDN MADAGASCAR
2 BEAU VALLON BVL SEYCHELLES
3 AKANY SAMBATRA ITAOSY ASI MADAGASCAR
4 TROU AUX BICHES SC TAB MAURICE
5 CAMP ITHIER CIV MAURICE
6 RACINES CLUB RAC COMORES
Women
Rank Team Code Country
1 ANSE ROYALE ANS SEYCHELLES
2 STEF AUTO STA MADAGASCAR
3 AZUR SC AZR MAURICE
4 AKON’NY MANDROSEZA VB AMV MADAGASCAR
5 CASCADE CAS SEYCHELLES
6 QUATRE-BORNES VBC QVC MAURICE
7 AKANY SAMBATRA ITAOSY ASY MADAGASCAR
2015 Zone 7 Club Championship- Day 5
The qualifiers to the semifinal of Men’s and Women’s Zone 7 Club Championship confirmed at the end of the first round of the competition held Championship in Antananarivo, Madagascar on Thursday.
In the men’s category Gendarmerie of Madagascar and Trou Aux Biches of Mauritius finished Pool A in the first and second positions, while pool B featured Beau Vallon of Seychelles coming on the top position followed by Akany Sambatra of Madagascar,
The semifinal will see Gendarmerie meet their compatriots Akany Sambatra, while Beau Vallon face Trou Aux Biches.
In the Women’s side, Stef Auto of Madagascar led Pool A followed by Azur of Mauritius, while pool B showed Anse Royal leading followed by Akon’ny Mandroseza of Madagascar in the second position.
Stef Auto will battle it out against Akon’ny Mandroseza, and Anse Royal line up against Azur
Semifinal Programme
MEN
GENDARMERIE(MADAGASCAR) VS ASI ( MADAGASCAR)
BEAU VALLON (SEYCHELLES) VS TROU AUX BICHES ( MAURITIUS)
WOMEN
STEF AUTO ( MADAGASCAR) VS AMVB ( MADAGASCAR)
ANSE ROYALE (SEYCHELLES) VS AZUR ( MAURITIUS)
CAVB web site: http://www.cavb.org
Twitter: CAVB Tweets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CAVBVolleyball
YouTube: CAVB Video
Instagram: CAVB_ volleyball
Zone 7 Club Championship- Day 3
Gendarmerie Nationale of Madagascar and Beau Vallon of Seychelles led both Men pools at the 22nd Zone 7 Club Championship in Antananarivo, Madagascar on Monday.
Both teams secured 2 victories in both men pools. Gendarmerie Nationale won their matches against Racing Club Comoros 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-9) and Trou Sharks 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-10).
Beau Vallon won their matches against Akany Sambatra 3-1(25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22) and Camp Ithier 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-12). Both winners secured semifinal tickets.
In the women’s competition Stef Auto of Mauritius and Anse Royal led the women pools after the competition third day. Stef beat Azur 3-1 (25-22, 32-30, 2-25, 25-18). Royale beat Akon Mandroseza 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-18) and Quatre Bornes 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-16).
The competition features 13 teams from Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar including 6 men and 7 women teams.
The Control committee members consists of Dedans Jean Michel – President Control Committee, Mohammed Issa Madiane – Technical Delegate, Hugues Hoareau – Sports Organising and Andrew Dereck – Referee Delegate
CAVB web site: http://www.cavb.org
Twitter: CAVB Tweets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CAVBVolleyball
YouTube: CAVB Video
Instagram: CAVB_ volleyball
Cameroon was selected by African Volleyball Confederation “CAVB” as a host for the prestigious Women’s African Olympic Qualifiers in the Capital Yaoundé February 12 to 19, 2016 with a record of 17 participating National federations.
The champions of this qualifier will represent Africa in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The qualifiers attracted 17 countries which are Algeria, Tunisia, Gambia, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo RDC, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Madagascar.
CAVB put November 20, 2015 as a deadline to send the list of players to participate in the competition.
Algeria claimed the African Qualification tickets in the last 2 Olympics in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
CAVB web site: http://www.cavb.org
Twitter: CAVB Tweets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CAVBVolleyball
YouTube: CAVB Video
Instagram: CAVB_ volleyball
The International Tennis Federation (ITF),on Monday approved the Futures 3 and Futures 4 Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship which will hold from December 5th -19th at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan Lagos.
The ITF also said it is expecting players from all parts of the world to turn up for the $80,000 prize-money event which ranks among the biggest in Africa. This year’s edition will be the 15th of the tournament.
The Ebola scourge in Nigeria last year forced the ITF not to sanction the tournament and instead an abridged version was held which was restricted to players from Africa. Due to the absence of players from across the globe, the 2014 edition was also a non-point-earning event.
But ITF, in a letter to the Nigeria Tennis Federation, said it has returned to its earlier status as a point-earning tournament which would be an attraction to players from all parts of the world.
Nigeria’s Michael Moses won the men’s singles while Zarah Razafinmahatratra of Madagascar claimed the women’s top prize.
India’s Sania Mirza, the top-ranked WTA doubles player and Croatia’s Ivan Dodic, the world no 1 ITF junior ranked player, among others, are some of the players that have used the Governor’s Cup as a springboard for their successful careers in recent years.
Tournament Coordinator, Prince Wale Oladunjoye said the tournament will continue to grow bigger.
“This is good news, it goes to show that the ITF has got confidence in the Nigeria Tennis Federation as well as the organizers because we have been kept on the edge as we expected that they would have approved the tournament some few months ago because we normally hold it in October,” he said.
The NTF on its part said it will continue to work with the Main Organizing Committee to deliver a highly successful championship.
Rugby Africa has confirmed the pools for The Olympic qualifiers which will be staged in Johannesburg, South Africa from the 13th – 14th November, 2015. The Africa Cup Sevens is a qualifying tournament for The Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
Nigeria has been drawn in Pool B, alongside Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zambia. Zimbabwe are favorites to advance from Pool B.
Reacting after the draws, coach of the Nigerian Rugby team also know as Black Stallions, Fabian Juries said “The draw here offers some really exciting match-ups right from the group stage and there’s lots of potential for upsets as well which means no team can take anything for granted”.
Africa Rugby Sevens pools:
Despite Zimbabwe being tipped by bookmakers as group B favorites, the South African Rugby legend believes the Zambia team are no pushovers However, he has warned opposing teams that any attempt to underrate Nigeria may prove costly.
Meanwhile in group A, Kenya who is a strong force in africa rugby will tackle Madagascar, Senegal and Mauritius.
In group C, northern african brothers, Tunisia and Morrocco have been pitted together with Namibia and Bostwana.
The Fantastic 9 Nigerian girls at the FIBA Africa U16 championship brought their World Championship Fantasy to reality as the cruised to an hard fought 54-51 points victory over Mozambique in the Semi finals of the African U16 Women championship in Madagascar.
Nigeria started out slowly trailing 5 -16 in the 1st quarter, but shook off the the tension and powered back with 20-8 points run in the 2nd quarter to take a 25-24 lead to the half time break. The 3rd quarter had both teams neck to neck, but Nigeria still managed a 1 point lead (36-35) going into the final quarter after both sides scored 11 points apiece.
Despite the superior rebounding from Mozambique 52-38 over Nigeria in the game. Nigeria pulled through out scoring Mozambique 12 -4 from inside the paint and shooting 54% from free throw line compared to Mozambique who managed just 46%.
Chinelo Lucy Ibeh and Isioma Vannessa Oduah lead the floor with 16 points apiece, while Ene Adams did massive job of picking 14 rebounds despite scoring just 2 points, and Rita James adding 9 points to the spoils.
With the win Nigeria has booked a place in the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship and a final show down against triple defending champions Mali on Sunday.
Femi Adefeso
Nigeria’s team to the 2015 FIBA Africa U-16 Women Championship holding in Antananarivo, Madagascar yesterday beat Egypt 54-52 in their opening game.
Rita James lead all scorers with 19 pts, with Ene Adams adding 10pts and 13 rebs and Onome James- Akinbode clearing the boards with 10rebs in addition to 3pts as Nigeria came from a first quarter slump (9-20 pts) to rebound (11-6)(23-16)(11-10) in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters to overcome 3time Runners up Egypt in their opening game in the championship, this afternoon.
President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF Tijjani Umar commended the team for the victory which he described as a good way to relaunch Nigeria into age-grade competition in Africa after a four- year self exile to sanitize the system.
Speaking with the head coach, Adeka Daudu on phone, Umar said, “it is a learning process and the players should use it very well. They should just remain focused and enjoy the game”.
He reiterated the position of the NBBF that the team is not taking part in the competition to win at all cost but to use it as a platform of getting future players of the senior team.
They are expected to play host Madagascar on Sunday, Zimbabwe on Monday and Morocco on Tuesday to round off the group games.
….As team Jets out to Madagascar Tomorrow
Director General of the NSC, Mallam Alhassan Yakmut was on hand with NBBF delegation led by its President, Tijjani Umar in a brief send forth for the National U16 Basketball team, as the team is set to depart for Antananarivo, Madagascar tomorrow for the FIBA Africa U-16 Championships from 10-19th July, 2015.
The ceremony which took place at the Indoor Hall of the Abuja National Stadium had the full delegation of 12 players and six officials leaving for the Madagascar capital to battle their contemporaries across the African continent.
Mallam Yakmut admonished the players to see themselves as Nigerian Ambassadors and represent Nigerian with pride at the tournament.
” It is a great privilege to represent Nigeria at 16, be good Ambassadors of your country. Go all out and do us proud”.
The NSC Director General further went on to give kudos to the President Tijjani Umar and NBBF board for relaunching its participation at age grade competitions during his tenure as DG.
The NBBF President, Mr Tijjani Umar on the other hand urged the players not to be worried about any situation as there are officials to worry about all their needs, which has been provided for by the NBBF with the full support of the National Sports Commission.
Head Coach Adeka Daudu responded on behalf of the team thanking the NBBF for the opportunity given the technical crew to tutor the team for the championship and promised that they will be good Ambassadors and won’t let the country down.
“I thank you for the opportunity to serve our great country once again, I promise we won’t let you down and all Nigerians in Madagascar”.
The team departs Abuja for Lagos Wednesday(tomorrow) morning to catch a flight to Antananarivo by 12 noon.
Here is the list of the 18 man delegation for the 2015 FIBA Africa U16 Championships.
Players
1.Daniel Menani Denis
2.James Happy Rita
3.Seye Antorufa Anita
4. Okoli Maureen Chidimma
5. Oduah Vanessa Isioma
6. Akinbode James Onome Mary
7. Udueyin Omotayo Ruth
8. Ibeh Chinelo Lucy
9. Ezekiel Monica
10. Okoye Ifunanya Rosemary
11. Adams Ene Blessing
12. Ezeh Jennifer Adaeze
Officials
1. Daudu Adeka – Head Coach
2. Ogunade Shomala Shola – Assistant Coach
3. Manuwa Ademola – Team Doctor
4. Salami Priscilla Eniaghe – Physioterapist
5. Famogbiyele Olayinka Kehinde – Accompanying Referee
6. Okon Anya Patience – Team Secretary
…..NBBF Invites grassroots coaches to Understudy Adeka Daudu.
As part of the drive to build structure and capacity to sustain its national youth programmes, the Nigerian Basketball Federation has invited 3 of the top women grassroots coaches to the national U16 woman camp headed by coach Adeka Daudu.
The list of invited coaches include 3 time winner, and current champion of the Nestlé Milo Secondary school championship with St Jude’s Girls College. Amarata, Bayelsa State, Coach Anthony Nelson, renowned women developmental grassroots coach Wilson ldanwekhai, who currently serves as head coach of Adolescent and Health Information Program (AHIP Queens) of Kano and coach Olawale Oyekan of the Lagos State Youth Alive Basketball community programme in Lagos.
This initiative is part of its mentorship programme launched by Basketball Federation in 2014 to help build the next generation of coaches that will take over from the likes of the vastly experienced Adeka Daudu and also give room for the coaches to grow alongside the athletes, so as to form an excellent bond and foster a relationship between the coaches and players from the youth level and provide a data base for monitoring the progress of the athletes from youth, intermediate and hopefully graduating to the senior national team level.
The coaches have joined the national U16 team current camping in Abuja ahead of the FIBA Africa U16 Women Championship in Madagascar from 10th-19th July, 2015.
U16 Women basketball team shines in Abuja…,
The U16 womens’ Basketball Team of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF defeated an Abuja selected side U22 female basketball team in a friendly game on Wednesday.
Abuja selected side dominated the game, before the U16 girls turned around and pulled back from 11-28 to win the last quarter with three points.
The game ended 51-54 in favour of the U16 basketball team.
An excited Ruth Omotayo Udueyin told NBBF Media after the game that they were able to pull back after discovering their mistakes;
“We did not follow the coach’s instruction on time, so the moment we discovered our mistakes after listening to the coach again, we put it to work and we won” she said
“The spirit is high everybody wants to be in camp and make the team, nobody wants to go home but no matter what, we are going to come out victorious” she added
However, Head coach of the team, Adeka Daudu gave the girls thumbs up after the game and revealed that, some will be dropped after tomorrow’s evening practice session.
The team is preparing for the final round of FIBA Africa U16 Women Championship in Madagascar from 10th-19th July, 2015.
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