The New Dawn: April 2019

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Quadri’s Budapest Feat Thrills ATTF

Africa number one Table Tennins star, Aruna Quadri reach the last 32 of the men’s singles at the 2019 ITTF World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, a feat that delights the African Table Tennis Federation.
The continent governing body through its President, Khaled El-Salhy described the Nigerian as a good ambassador for always putting the continent on the world map with his scintillating performance.

Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo impressed in CD Leganes' goalless draw against Celta de Vigo on Saturday, April 27, and Whoscored.com took notice of his performance by including the central defender in the La Liga Team of the Week.
In a 4-4-2 formation, the Nigeria international partnered former Arsenal star, Gabriel Paulista in central defense.

Nigeria international striker, Paul Onuachu ended his three -game goal drought by netting a brace for FC Midtjylland who defeated home side, FC Nordsjælland in their Danish Superliga clash on Monday.
Onuachu has endured a barren spell in front of goal for FC Midtjylland with his last goal coming for the club in the Danish Cup 4-0 win against OB Odense early this month in which he scored twice.

USA Debut: Joshua’s Opponent To Be Revealed On Tuesday

Unified Boxing World Heavyweight champio, Anthony Joshua’s opponent for his United States debut is set to be confirmed on Tuesday, according to Matchroom Sport chairman, Barry Hearn.
Britain’s unified heavyweight boxing champion is awaiting news on his next challenger for his scheduled defence at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 1.

IGC 29th Club Anniversary:: Captain Plans Grand Celebration

As the prestigious Ibadan Golf Club clocks 29 years on May 1st, the Captain of the club, Col. Ade Sumonun has promised a grand celebration kicking off with a cocktail at the upper pavilion April 30th.
The grand events will commence on Wednesday May 1st with an anniversary kitty in the morning and the closing ceremony and presentation of prizes for winners in the one-day golf tournament will be held by 4:00pm according to program rolled out by the committee.

Captain IGC Col. Ade Sumonun (third from right), the overall winner Adetiminrin Adekunle the lady Captain Sade Oni (third from right) during the prize presentation at captain's kitty of Ibadan Golf Club

The duo of Adetiminrin Adekunle and Evelyn Oyome have emerged winners in the golf tournament organized to celebrate the newly elected captain of the prestigious Ibadan Golf Club, Col. Ade Sunmonu.
The inaugural kitty which was held over last weekend was attended by cream de la crème in the golfing circle.

Nigeria U17 coaches led by Manu Garba have incurred the wrath of Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick and Vice President Seyi Akinwunmi after they decided not to hand minutes to Adrian Akande at the 2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Chelsea wonderkid is courted by the English Football Association and was called up to their U16 team for the recently concluded Montaigu Tournament but was advised by his father to reject the invitation.

Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby has included Rivers Angels midfielder Evelyn Nwabuoku and Ibom Angels goalkeeper Christy Ohiaeriaku in a 26-player squad for the 2019 Women’s WAFU Cup of Nations in Abidjan.
The Super Falcons’ squad is dominated by home-based professional players, comprising of four goalkeepers, six defenders, seven midfielders and nine forwards.

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have arrived Ingolstadt, Germany on Sunday for their final preparation ahead of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Poland.
The team will spend three weeks in Germany before flying into Poland for the tournament billed to hold from May 23 to June 15 2019.

2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations: NFF Demand Disqualification Of Guinea For Age Fraud

The Nigeria Football Federation have filed a complaint to the Confederation of African Football on Friday over two non-eligible players named in Guinea's starting lineup in their 10-9 victory on penalties against Nigeria in the U17 Africa Cup of Nations on April 24.
The Nigerian Federation informed CAF that Aboubacar Conté and Ahmed Tidiane Keïta wearing the number 11 and 15 jersey respectively played in the tournament with different passports (born in 2002) from those they used in another tournament in Japan two years ago (born in 2001).

The Chief Executive Officer of Flykite Promotions, Jenkins Alumona was lucky to have escaped unscratched after he was threaten by boxing fans that thronged the venue of the 18th edition of GOtv Boxing Night held on Sunday at the indoor sports hall of Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan,.
In his quest to maintain orderliness especially at the VIP stand and forestall any act not suitable for a boxing event that is being beamed live by the sponsor Super Sports, the efforts of the Flykite boss was met with stiff resistance by some members of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) that almost assaulted him physically.

Former Nigeria Football Federation President, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi will this weekend award academic scholarship worth over N10.8 million on 15 outstanding student players selected from the recently organized football competitions in Kogi State and FCT.
According to the program of events released by the Secretary of FOSLA Academy Patrick Ngwaogu, the list of the lucky students would be drawn from the Sixty players that were selected from the 2019 edition of the FOSLA U.13 Football Competition organized in Kogi State and FCT.

Fiorentina have joined Torino in the race for Super Eagles defender, Ola Aina.
Football Italia making reference to La Nazione claims Fiorentina are in the market for a right back, and Torino’s Ola Aina and Brescia’s Alessandro Semprini top Montella’s wish list.

Super Eagles striker, Isaac Success rejected an impromptu request from the Nigeria Football Federation to link up with his international teammates ahead of matches against Senegal and Seychelles last month.
Success had a chance meeting with Nigerian Federation supremo Amaju Pinnick while he was on a short break from his duties at Watford last month and was instructed to report for international duty in Asaba.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria may play the final of the ongoing U17 Africa Cup of Nations against Cameroon if the Confederation of Africa Football decided to act on the age cheating allegations made by Senegalese Federation against the Guinean National Team competing at the competition in Tanzania.
The Senegalese Federation have irrefutable evidence that two Guineans players Ahmed Tidiane Keita and Aboubacar Conte forged their current international passports and a complaint was lodged with the Confederation of African Football.

Super Eagles striker, Henry Onyekuru scored twice on his return to Galatasaray’s starting line-up in Thursday’s 5-2 win over Yeni Malatyaspor in a Turkish Cup second leg semi-final clash.
The goals took Onyekuru’s tally to 14 across all competitions with three assists.

RED HOT Oshoala Fires Barcelona Top Of Liga

Nigeria's Super Falcons striker, Asisat Oshoala returned to the Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino smoking hot to fire Barcelona to the top of the league with two matches left.
Oshoala who has been out of action for over a month with a thigh injury, was given minutes in the UWCL semi-final first-leg against Bayern Munich at the weekend.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria crashed out on penalties to Guinea in the ongoing Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after a deadlocked semifinal encounter at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam on Wednesday afternoon.
Coach Manu Garba tinkered with his starting XI for the fourth time in the ongoing competition, introducing Fawaz Abdullahi in his midfield set up in place of Mayowa Abayomi.

Super Falcons legend, Mercy Akide-Udoh has been named Regent University Athletic Department's Coach of the Year.
The Nigerian, who has only just completed her first season as Head Coach of the university's Women's Soccer program, was a unanimous choice for the award, voted for by all the coaches in the Virginia Beach-based university.

Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, has dismissed allegations of corruption and financial misappropriation leveled against him and his board.
Pinnick and his board were alleged to have the sum of $650,000 originally meant for a friendly match against Bolivia in Uyo in 2015, given by the former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio, mismanaged.

Following their victory over Nigeria’s duo of Aruna Quadri and Olajide Omotayo in the main draw of the men’s doubles of the 2019 ITTF World Championships, Germany’s Timo Boll says his side rely on their experience to get them over the line over the Nigerians.
Aruna and Omotayo led 2-1 in the encounter before the Germans duo of Boll and Patrick Franziska snatched the game and ran out 4-2 in the highly entertaining game.

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will battle Guinea today (Wednesday ) at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam for a place in the final of the Africa U -17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania.
To get to the semi-final stage of the competition, the Golden Eaglets finished top of Group A with seven points from three games.

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri defeated Iran’s Nima Alamian 4-3 in the second round of the men’s singles ITTF World Championships.
Aruna is the only African left in the competition as Egypt’s Omar Assar exited the tournament following his 3-4 loss to Portugal’s Joao Geraldo in the first round.

Akpom Delighted To Win Greek League

Former Arsenal striker, Chuba Akpom is delighted after winning the 2018-19 Greek Super League title with PAOK.
The Black-Whites secured a 5-0 victory over Levadiakos to be crowned the Greek champions and ended their 34 years wait for the trophy.

Super Falcons head coach, Thomas Dennerby has displayed his cards for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as he has declared that he would take the games against Norway and South Korea very serious to earn valuable points.
The Swedish tactician noted that he would love to get wins against Norway and South Korea in order to be in a very good position before facing the host nation, France in the final group match.

Unified Boxing World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua has taken a swipe at drugs cheat Jarrell Miller by insisting he doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring as him.
Joshua and Miller were set to go toe to toe at Madison Square Garden on June 1 but the American failed three drugs test, testing positive for GW1516, HGH and EPO.

Nigeria international striker, Anthony Nwakaeme has been named Player of the Week for game week 29 of the Turkish Super Lig by Whoscored.com.
Regarded as Nigeria's most in-form footballer playing for a top division club in Europe at the moment, the former Hapoel Beer Sheva star netted the equaliser to bring Trabzonspor back into the match before providing the assist for the winner scored by Rodallega in their 2-1 victory against Yeni Malatyaspor on April 20.

NFF Is Working Hard To Help Nwakali Resolve Visa Issue -Olajire

The Nigeria Football Federation says it is working hard to secure the visa that will enable stranded U-23 Eagles midfileder Kelechi Nwakali to return to Portugal.
Nwakali, 20, who is on loan at FC Porto’s B team from Arsenal is unable to leave Nigeria almost a month after playing in a qualifier for the 2020 Olympic men’s football tournament.

Nigeria's Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr has ruled out a change in approach heading into the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The German mentor has backed his goalkeeping trio to keep their place in the squad for continental showpiece, this despite Francis Uzoho's struggles at club level this season.

Nigeria's Super Falcons striker, Asisat Oshoala is elated to be back on the pitch again after making a substitute appearance for Barcelona Ladies in Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.
Kheira Hamraoui scored the winning goal for Barcelona Ladies who secured a 1-0 away win in the semi-final first leg tie.

The Nigerian Football Federation have sent birthday wishes to Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi who clocked 32 on Monday.
Mikel, who burst onto the scene as a teenager at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2005, was born on the 22nd of April 1987 in Plateau, Nigeria.

Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr, has hinted that the Nigeria Football Federation are in talks with their Moroccan counterparts over a friendly ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Shortly after the AFCON draw, Rohr revealed that the three-time African champions will face Senegal in a friendly before the start of the tournament in Egypt, and this has been confirmed by Senegalese Football Association President, Augustin Senghor.

Ighalo Extends Goal Scoring Run

Nigeria's Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo scored his sixth goal of the season as Shanghai Shenhua played out a 1-1 draw with Wuhan Zall in the Chinese Super League on Sunday, April 21.
The striker's left-footed strike from inside the box restored parity for Shanghai Shenhua on 31 minutes after they had conceded 16 minutes into the contest.

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will face Guinea in the first semi-final match of the ongoing 2019 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam.
The Guineans finished in second position in Group B following a hard-fought 1-0 win against Morocco on Sunday.

Nigerian sprinter and former 100m African Youth Champion, Divine Oduduru has become the fastest man in the planet, at least so far in 2019.
Oduduru, who also competes in the 200m and finished 7th at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, ran sub-10 over the weekend in an invitational.

Busola Akinyemi Foundation Gives Out Soccer Kits To 500 kids In Ibadan

In a bid to encourage grassroots sports, Busola Akinyemi Foundation (BAF) has distributed free soccer kits to more than 500 kids at an event held at Obafemi Awolowo Stadium Ibadan over the weekend where the former Super Eagles midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju led other coaches to tutored the kids on basic soccer techniques.
Akinyemi, an indigene of Oyo State, who doubles as the Umbro representative in Nigeria said he was touched seeing kids wearing torn soccer boots and jerseys knowing fully well that our government cannot do about it.

Nigeria's U-17 national team the Golden Eaglets on Saturday booked their place in the semifinals of the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations and ultimately the U-17 FIFA World Cup in Brazil following their 1-1 draw against Uganda in their last Group A game.
Heading into the last group game, the Nigerian side had amassed six points after the 5-4 and 1-0 wins against Tanzania and Angola respectively.

For the third successive game, a Golden Eaglets player has been named Man of the Match in the group stage of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations as Ibraheem Jabaar was officially named the most outstanding player by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as the Nigeria U17s and Uganda shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw at the Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala on Saturday afternoon.
The Olisa Football Club of Ijebu Ode striker's goal in the 74th minute ensured Nigeria's qualification for the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup in Brazil and the semifinals of the U17 AFCON.

Rivers United head coach, Stanley Eguma is expecting a tough game when his side host Sunshine Stars in one of Sunday’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) fixtures at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt.
Eguma whose team lost 1-2 at Katsina United last Sunday said they have put the loss behind and are more focused on the match against Sunshine Stars, a side he describes as wounded lions following their loss at home to Rangers in their last home match.

Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr says Nigeria cannot afford to write off their rivals in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group B.
The group has two debutants in Burundi and Madagascar, but one cannot write them off completely because they qualified from their respective groups in the qualifiers according to the coach.

The duo of Super Eagles stars, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho are gunning for Leicester City’s Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season awards respectively.
Ndidi has been present in the Leicester City squad all season, the midfielder is the current holder of the Young Player of the Season award and he’s one of the favorites for the Player‘s of the year award.

Two Swedish Allsvenskan side, Hammarby IF and IFK Norrköping risk incurring the wrath of football's governing body, FIFA over their illegal signing of two Nigerian minors, Akinkunmi Amoo and Ishaq Abdulrazaq.
One of the standout players for the current Golden Eaglets, Amoo is on the radar of clubs based in England, France and Austria but the interested teams have embarked on a wild goose chase as he has signed a preliminary contract with Hammarby IF.

Super Eagles striker, Henry Onyekuru has urged his Galatasary teammates to continue working hard and avoid mistakes as the race for the Turkish Super Lig title getting tougher.
Galatasary are five points behind leaders, Istanbul Basaksehir who hosts Rizespor on Sunday and one point ahead of Besiktas who plays Sivasapor next Monday.

Unified Boxing World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua will face a new opponent after Jarrell Miller failed a second drugs test, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Joshua was scheduled to defend his WBA, IBF and WBO titles against the American at Madison Square Garden on June 1.

GOtv Boxing Night 18: Organisers Promise Adequate Security

Flykite Productions, organisers of GOtv Boxing Night, have assured boxing fans coming for the 18th edition of the show of adequate security.
GOtv Boxing Night 18, which holds on Sunday at the Indoor Sports Hall of Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan is expected to draw a large number of dignitaries and boxing fans.

Former Super Eagles winger, Victor Moses faces two weeks on the sidelines fter sustaining an injury in the closing minutes of Fenerbahce's 1-1 draw with Galatasaray in the Istanbul derby last weekend.
According to various media outlets in Turkey, including beIN SPORTS, a partial rupture has been detected in the groin area and the former Nigeria international has stayed away from training this week.

America boxer, Jarrell Miller says he has “done nothing wrong” and will appeal against the decision to deny him a licence to face Anthony Joshua in New York.
The fight is scheduled to take place on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York and to serve as the American debut for England’s Joshua, but it is now in jeopardy because of Miller’s positive test.

Tanzania’s national team coach, Emmanuel Amunike has warned that his charge are capable of springing a surprise at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Taifa Stars are returning to the continental finals for the first time since 1980, and have been drawn with Senegal, Algeria and Kenya in Group C.

UEFA Confirms Champions League Semi-Final Date

Tottenham Hotspur will host Ajax in the first match of the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finals, UEFA has confirmed.
UEFA revealed on Thursday that the opening leg of the last-four encounter will be played on April 30, with Barcelona taking on Liverpool at Camp Nou the following day.

The Confederation of African Football has revealed that all the twenty-four countries participating at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations must submit their final roster eleven days before the start of the tournament in Egypt.
The definite list of 23 players must be sent to CAF'S offices not later than June 10.

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Monday, April 29, 2019

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Friday, April 26, 2019

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Monday, April 22, 2019

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Friday, April 19, 2019

Thursday, April 18, 2019