ROAD RACE: Organisers target gold label for Okpekpe race

Organisers of the annual Okpekpe Road Race have said the target this year is to upgrade the label for the race from Bronze to Gold medal. Speaking with our correspondent, the coordinator of the race, former international, Yusuf Alli, said the organisers were working hard to make this year’s edition a success and by next year a

11th All-Africa Games: Dream Team, Falcons get Zambia, Mali opponents

Zambia’s U-23 side will be the Dream Team’s next opponents in the race to the 11th All-Africa Games after they must have seen off Gabon, following the withdrawal of Madagascar.
Siasia’s wards lashed the Gabonese 4-1 in Libreville on Saturday with the return leg set for Abuja on March 7. The winner of the two-leg fixture is billed to play the winner between Zambia

AFCON 2017: Egypt confirms bid withdrawal

Egypt’s Sports Minister Khaled Abdel-Aziz has confirmed his country has abandoned its bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
“We have decided to withdraw our application and will support that of Algeria,” he explained.
Gabon and Ghana have also made bids, the Confederation of African Football will announce the hosts on

CAF U-17 Championship: Eaglets to face South Africa

South Africa emerged Nigeria’s semi-final opponent at the CAF U-17 Championship after they defeated Cameroon 3-1 in their last Group B match on Sunday.
The Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets had defeated Zambia by the same score line on Saturday to emerge top with seven points in Group A while South Africa managed five points to

Jacob Hails Mega Handball Veterans

Renowned sports promoter and philanthropist, Barrister Mark Jacob has hailed the efforts of Handball Mega Veterans, who are currently camping the senior national male and female teams in preparation for All Africa Games qualification competition in Niger Republic from March 7. Jacob, who is chairman of Mega Handball Veterans, said the aim is to keep the players fit and ready for the tournament as handball have not being doing well in recent years. He disclosed that they decided to camp the players early enough before National Sports Commission (NSC) will come in, as is expected, and pointed out that the gesture will go a long way towards further enhanced development for the sport. He equally stated that funding the teams camping have not being easy as most of the Mega Veterans deny themselves comfort to fund the camp. The Handball national male and female team are currently camped at Civil Defence Training camp, where Jacob says they have to be made to feel comfortable, as they await the NSC to release funds once the federal budget is passed "We ex-players of this game formed this association to revive the game of handball in Nigeria. It’s a game that has brought fame to most of us and most of the current players are breadwinners of their families. “We can't sit and watch while the game nosedives. It’s very bad. The players have being in camp for two weeks now so far so good. The team is taking shape gradually, by the time we leave for Niger we are good to go. “We will make sure that both teams will not only qualify for All African games but do well in the competition,” Jacob said. 

Onaolapo, Omotayo upbeat on Lagos ITTF Tour

Italy-based players, Ojo Onaolapo and Olajide Omotayo, are confident that the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour tagged Lagos Open provides Nigeria an ample chance to confirm her superiority in the sport.
Onaolapo, who was part of Nigeria team to the last

NFF confirms Iwobi for Bolivia friendly

• Arsenal star rues Nigeria’s debut miss

The Nigeria Football Federation has confirmed that Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi will be invited for the Super Eagles friendly match against Bolivia on March 26 after the youngster failed to make his much awaited debut for Nigeria at the weekend.

Simon continues his fine run of form in Belgium

Moses Daddy Simon continues to do good things in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League as he netted his fifth league goal of the season on Sunday.

The 19-year-old scored in the 22nd minute of KAA Gent’s 2-1 win over the leaders, Club Brugge in the top-of-the-table clash on match day 27 of the competition.

Simon controlled the ball with his chest and out-thought his markers with frightening pace before unleashing a shot which beat the Brugge goalkeeper, Matthew Ryan for the game’s opening goal.

His exploits and all round performance on Sunday in front of 19,736 supporters at the front of GHELAMCO-arena underlines his status as one of the rising stars of world football.

The Flying Eagles striker has been in great form this season, scoring a fantastic hat-trick against Lokeren on February 1 before following it with another well-taken goal against Westerlo on February 7.

Sunday’s win keeps Gent on the coattails of Brugges as they stay in second place on the league standings with 48 points from 27 matches.

Niger 2015: Eaglets secure World Cup ticket, beat Zambia 3-1

Nigeria’s Under-17 team, the Golden Eaglets, have secured a ticket to the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Chile after a flattering 3-1 win against Zambia in their final Group A match at the ongoing African Championship in Niger.
The Golden Eaglets played their hearts out against the Junior Chipolopolo and were rewarded with three sublime goals, including a brace by

Dolphins land ex-Rangers goalkeeper

Last season's Federation Cup finalists, Dolphins FC, have completed the signing of goalkeeper Godwin Anyalogu for the NPFL season, supersport.com has been informed.

The Port Harcourt club moved to acquire the goalkeeper as back up for first-choice and captain, Sunday Rotimi and also bolster their goalkeeping ranks.

Dolphins also have two other goalkeepers in Adejare Adeniyi and Joseph Onwuga, who joined from Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) champions, Kano Pillars, in the off-season.

"We have tidied up papers to add goalkeeper Godwin Anyalogu to our team. The coach (Stanley Eguma) believes this is one area that needs to be fortified and that is why we have brought in Anyalogu, who is very experienced having played in the top division for a number of season with Rangers and most recently Sunshine Stars.