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.
Tunisia Men’s Volleyball team started the last stage of preparation for the 2015 Men’s African Nations Championship to be staged in Egypt July 22 to 30, 2015 in a local camp under supervision of the technical staff Head Coach Fathi Mkaouar, ass. coaches Riadh Hedhili and Noureddine Hefaiedh.
Tunisian team
The head coach selected 14 players for the finals led by veteran opposites Hichem Kaabi and Marouan Garci to train daily until they leave for Egypt on July 20.
Tunisia who have 8 African titles under their name, started their Programme early this month with a camp in Turkey where they played three matches against the hosts whom they faced also during Pool F of their 2015 World League campaign last month.
Tunisia lost the first and second matches in the same result 3-1 before they achieved a tight victory in a thrilling tiebreaker (25-23, 19-25, 17-25, 25-15, 19-17).
Tunisia is seeking their 9th title and the first since 2003 after Egypt overwhelmed the competition in the last five editions.
The Nigerian senior male national basketball team, the D’Tigers have been pitted against former champions and host Tunisia in Group A at the draws for the 2015 FIBA Africa Basketball Championship which took place at the Carthage Acropolium in Tunis on Saturday.
The D’Tigers are ranked 24th in the World and 3rd in Africa will be hoping to roar past no 4 ranked Tunisia, who last won the competition in 2011. Also seeded in the group is a little known Uganda who are making their debut at the continental showpiece and the 1st of 3 wild card teams which will be announced at the end of April by FIBA Africa.
The tournament which will be held from 19-30 August in the Tunisian cities of Nabeul and Tunis will serve as a qualifying event for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Nigeria’s Men’s Basketball team D’Tigers
In Group B, defending champions Angola who will be gunning for their 12th title under the tutelage of new but experienced coach Moncho Lopez , will battle against Mozambique, Morocco and another Wild Card entry.While Afrobasket 2013 runners up, Egypt will hope to go a step further than their fairytale run carried them in Abidjan as set up an interesting match up against West African foes in Cameroon and Mali who threw up a suprise to qualify ahead of 2013 bronze medalist Senegal alongside Gabon makes up group C.
Finally the Elephants of Cote d’ivoire who dramatically ended up 4th at home in 2013 will have the Nigerian born Alex Uwora tutored Cape Verde to battle against, debutant Zimbabwe and the 3rd wild card pick to compete against in Group D.
It is the third time that Tunisia will get to stage the Afrobasket, having previously hosted it in 1965 and 1987.
Seven teams tabled bids for the 3 Wild cards available to the Tunisian showpiece. Amongst which are South Africa, Algeria, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Senegal, Congo and Guinea.
Members of the Dolphins FC team will return to Lagos in two batches after the Confederation of African Football, CAF ratified their disqualification from the Confederation Cup.
As soon as the CAF decision got to us, we went to the airport to re-book our tickets to Lagos but were told that we could not get as many as 27 seats on the plane.
Dolphins
We were however able to get 14 seats on the plane and the head coach of the team, Stanley Eguma led 10 players and 3 officials out of Tunisia at 2,30 pm on Thursday, March 19, 2015.
They will have a brief stopover in Dubai and arrive in Lagos at about noon on Friday, March, 20.
Michael Osewa made Nigeria proud at the ongoing 38th ITF/CAT African Junior Tennis Championship holding in Tunis, Tunisia by defeating Ryan Ryandrek of Kenya 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semifinal of the boys’ U14.
Osewa produced a classical display against his higher rated opponent to set up a clash with number one seed, Ismail Saadi of Morocco.
The last time Nigeria got to the semifinal was in 2012 when Emmanuel Idoko won the bronze medal in Botswana. For the record, Osewa is the only surviving player from West Africa in the last four of all the four categories.
An elated NTF President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa who arrived Tunis for the Confederation of African tennis Annual General Meeting which got underway on Thursday said the feat achieved by Oshewa was outstanding considering the fact that funds shortage hindered the team’s preparation for the clay court tournament featuring 32 countries.
Osewa is now expected to match the performance of Idoko, who was selected by ITF scouts to be in an European team by the ITF as part of reward for his exploits.
Although, Osewa is the last-man standing from Nigeria, a host of Nigerian players are in the running for the ITF training scholarship that is given to some of the promising players at week-long event which the biggest junior tournament in Africa.
According to national junior tennis coach Mohammed Ubale, among these that are being considered are Oyinlomo Quadri and Angel Maccleod who featured in the girls U14 and U16 categories respectively.
There is a ray of hope for Dolphins Football Club as regards their protest to the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF, because of the purported walk over by Club Africain in their game over the weekend.
After a long drawn out protest saga by Dolphins, through the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF international department, it seems CAF will make a decision that favours Dolphins.
A letter from Khaled Naddar, a Deputy Director at CAF in the competitions department dated March, 16, 2015 read thus:
Reference to the above mentioned match which was initially scheduled on 14th March 2015; we would like to request your team Dolphins to stay in Tunis until a decision is reached and communicated to you.
There have been series of emails, and telephone conversations between officials of the team, the NFF and CAF as regards this issue and this letter from CAF gives a ray of hope.
Dolphins are protesting their walk over by Club Africain even though they arrived in the country in good time for the game, after late departure though.
However, the team was delayed at the airport for two hours and then taken on a merry go round on the streets of Tunisia before arriving at the stadium after walk over formalities had been concluded.
Dolphins had written to CAF on Thursday, March 12, through the NFF, before departure from Lagos requesting the game to be moved from Saturday, March 14 to Sunday March 15.
We also want to thank the Rivers State Sports commissioner, Fred Igwe, officials of the international department of the NFF and Nigerians generally who have stood by us.
As a result, our team will no longer depart from Tunisia at 2.30 pm on Tuesday, March 17 as was previously planned because we will wait for the decision by CAF.
Whatever decision CAF finally reaches, we believe we have put up a good case on how clubs should be treated by their hosts before during and after games on the continent
Dolphins FC arrived in Tunisia at 1pm on Saturday, March 14, 2015 and were scheduled to play a CAF Confederation Cup game against Club Africain at 3pm, same day.
Before we departed from Lagos on Thursday, we had informed the Nigeria Football Federation through Bola Oyeyode, the head of international department and Musa Amadu, the General Secretary, in writing of our challenges and wanted to the game moved by one day from Saturday to Sunday.
We arrived in Tunis, via Emirates Airline on Saturday, 14 March 2015 at exactly 1pm. And even though our request to have the game postponed was not granted, we were ready to play as we arrived in good time, though fatigued and travel weary.
On our arrival at 1pm it took the chancery up to two hours before our visas were processed and passports issued to the delegation (note that Tunisian visa to Nigerians from Nigeria are issued at point of entry).
And this was already the kick off time. On conclusion of immigration formalities with the assistance of two Nigerian embassy officials led by M. K. Yusuf we exited the airport building at 3pm. There was no bus to convey the delegation to the stadium. It was at this point a certain Mr. Mahmoud Ouaddeni of the Tunisian Federation showed up.
Our Federation had already written to CAF, who through Khalid Nassar, Deputy Director CAF competitions Division had written to the Tunisian Federation, notifying them of our arrival time, but after more than 20 minutes of waiting, the bus finally came and we departed for the stadium at about 3.20 pm.
Joe Johnson, GM Dolphins FC
On our way to the stadium we sensed that the movement was being stage managed when a Nigerian, Mr. Nnamdi Osuji who lives in Tunis asked the driver why was the bus going round and round the streets of Tunis rather than taking a straight route to the stadium? The Federation official, Mr. Mahmoud Ouaddeni told us that the supporters would stone us if we went straight to the stadium. We arrived the stadium at exactly 4pm and were told we had been walked over by the home team.
The Nigerian ambassador, Dr. Joseph Apeh Omede who was also aware of our arrival was at the stadium ahead of us trying to hold grounds for us.
After this purported walk over, we noticed that there was no hotel reservations made for us as it is the duty of the host club to make those provisions. Instead the host team directed that we should be taken back to the airport from the stadium.
It took the intervention of our ambassador in Tunis, who pressed for them to obey the rules which allows us reasonable time in the country.
From these, it is obvious that the walk over was not only calculated to undermine the efforts of Dolphins FC and Nigeria by extension but done in bad faith by the match officials in collusion with both the host club and the Tunisian Federation.
It is not true that Dolphins did not travel for the game as is being speculated in some sections of the media.
It is also not true that Dolphins were stranded in Dubai and thus didn’t make it to Tunisia.
The team arrived late in Tunisia but in good time to play the game if not for the antics and shenanigans of the home team and Federation
A twenty six man contingent of players, coaches, back room staff, club secretary and club president, Joe Johnson will depart Lagos on Thursday night for Tunis via Dubai.
The team has been training in Port Harcourt since they drew goaless against Kwara United in the opening game of the league.
The team will leave Port Harcourt to Lagos at 2pm on Thursday and then board an Emirates airline career that will have a brief stopover in Dubai before going to Tunis.
Ifeanyi Egwim fails to make the team after he received a knock on Saturday in the League and hasn’t trained ever since.
Dolphins Fc training
Another absentee through injury is Rufus Ebue who is yet to get a game for Dolphins after he pulled a hamstring just before the Super 4
Ayobami Asekunowo already has two yellow cards to his name and will not play the game in Tunisia through suspension.
Dolphins have never been knocked out at this stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.
In 2007, the team got to the group stage but failed to make the semifinals as they couldn’t beat El Merreikh by 5-0 in Calabar. They managed a 3-0 win.
In 2008, the team lost to Asante Kotoko in the 3rd round,
The 2015 Africa Junior Tennis Championship will serve off tomorrow in Tunis with no fewer than three Nigerian players scheduled to be in action.
National junior tennis coach Mohammed Ubale, who is the leader of the nine-man team that included eight players, admitted that the Nigerian players will have to put up an optimum performance if they are to finish in the medal zone due to the pedigree of countries that are featuring in the clay court tournament.
The draws for the matches are due to be made late Tuesday (today) and Ubale while speaking form the North African country said the quality of players from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt Tunisia among others means that victory will not be achieved on a platter of gold by the Nigerian players who dominated the West & Central African championship held in Togo in January.
“The AJC is a gathering of the best junior players on the continent and while Nigeria has been the undisputed leading nation in the West and Central Africa Zone which consists of about 16 countries, the high standard of players from across Africa means we have to be at our best to make a meaningful impact here in Tunisia.
Ubale however expressed confidence in the form of Oyinlomo Quadri, who accounted for two of Nigeria’s eight gold medals at the qualifier in Lome.
“Oyin is in great form and also is McCleod who has kept improving since she shifted her base from Dubai to Lagos last year.
“The players just need to push a bit further and also have the belief that they can compete among the best at this level. If they play up to their potentials they will go as far as reaching the medals zone,” Ubale submitted.
Tunisia-bound national junior players will be the centre of attraction as the final of the MP Tennis Championship holds today at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
The five-day clay court tournament is serving as the final build-up for Nigerian players to the forthcoming African Junior Tennis Championship serving off on Monday in Tunis, Tunisia.
Martins Abamu, who will be representing the country in the Boys’ U-16 category, is the overwhelming favourite for the title, while Micheal Ayoola and Michael Oshewa, who will be competing in the U-14 are also in pole position to clinch the final places.
In the girls’ U-16 category, Angel McCleod looks unstoppable to clinch the top prize but she is expected to be given a tough match by her Team Nigeria teammate Oyinlomo Quadri.
13-year-old Quadri was the only player to bag two gold medals for Nigeria at the West & Central Africa Circuit which served as qualifier for the AJC in January in Lome.
Meanwhile Serena Teluwo will battle Reya Holmes in one of the semifnal matches of the girls’ U-10 billed for Friday while Oyinkansolami Doruwoju and Mary Udofia clash in the other semifinal.
Serena, who is regarded as another star-prospect by national junior coach Mohammed Ubale, topped her group by beating Doruwoju 4-2, 4-2 and Basirat Okunola 4-0, 4-0 in her opening group matches before finishing the day with sheer perfection with another 4-0, 4-0 win over Ozia Yajubu.
Gabriel Ekundayo and Joseph Fortune will battle for a place in the final of the Boy’s U-10 with the winner confronting the victor of the tie between Kehinde Ganiyu and Stephen Akpanke.
Fast-rising Nigerian tennis teenager, Angel McCleod underlined her intention to make a great impact in the 2015 Africa Junior Tennis Championship billed for Tunis, Tunisia next week as she coasted home to comfortable victories in the on-going MP Tennis Junior Championship holding at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
The half-caste, who recently featured in the ITF Circuit in Nairobi Kenya where she was able to amass crucial points that saw her move up in the global rankings was the star performer of the day as she defeated Lolade Holmes 4-0, 4-1 in the first of her four round-robin matches in Group A of the U-16 before going on to claim the scalps of both Toyin Asogba and Venus Ubiebi 4-0, 4-1 and 4-0,4-0 respectively to earn a spot in the knock-out stage of the five-day event serving as Nigeria’s preparation for the continental tournament in the North African country.
Another member of Nigeria’s eight-man team to the Mediterranean nation, Oyinlomo Qaudri also sustained the form that saw her claimed two gold medals for the country at the Togo 2015 West & Central African Championship that served as qualifiers.
Quadri, 13, started her Group B matches with a 4-0, 4-1 triumph over Jumai Mohammed and also breezed past Zainab Okunola 4-0, 4-0 before adding Marylove Edwards as her last casualty of the day with a 4-1, 4-1 win.
Meanwhile, national junior coach Mohammed Ubale will be on ground to assess the performance of the players. He is expected to be joined by three other members of the Tunisia-bound team, who have been fine-tuning strategies in various parts of the country.
Beach volleyball World Championship African qualifiers,
Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa and Ghana men teams confirmed their 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship’s vacancies after the group stage of the African Nations Championship held in Tunis, Tunisia.
From the women’s side Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Algeria booked thickets to the prestigious event after they ended at the top 2 positions of each of the preliminary pools.
Beach volleyball World Championship qualifiers, Egypt and Morocco women’s team
At the men’s competition hosts Tunisia led pool A with a clean sheet after they won their 4 pool matches ahead of Egypt who came second with win- loss ratio of 3-1 followed by Libya (2-2), Algeria (1-3) and Cote d’Ivoire (0-4).
South Africa topped Pool B with 4-1 record, followed by Ghana (4-1) who came behind with the set ratio, Morocco (4-1), Nigeria (2-3), Sierra Leone (1-4) and Niger (0-5).
At the Women’s competition Morocco led pool A followed by Nigeria, Tunisia and Egypt, while South Africa topped Pool B followed by Algeria, Namibia and Niger.
Beach volleyball World Championship qualifiers, Ghana and South Africa men’s teams
Now South Africa play Egypt and Tunisia meet in the semifinal of Men’s competition on Wednesday, while Morocco face Algeria and South Africa battle it out against Nigeria in the women’s semi’s.
Beach volleyball World Championship qualifiers, Algeria’s women’s team in Action
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