CHAIRMAN OF J.ATETE HANDED MATCH BAN

With the resumption of the lower league this weekend from its two breaks to allowed the NFF Disciplinary Committee to settled all cases brought to it, in which one of it was the game between Crown FC and J. Atete FC .

The following punishment was rolled out to both clubs.

1. The Committee considered that the attitude of Mr. Julius Atete as being inciting and frowns at such acts by team Officials. The Committee therefore consider his conduct as bringing the match to disrepute as a result of which led to the abandoning of the match by his team. He is hereby placed on two (2) match bans with effect from their next match. The Committee in arriving at this decision invoked Art. 7.(21)

2. The Committee finds J. Atete FC Guilty of Abandoning the match and noted that Team Officials have no right to abandon a match for whatever reason ”If a club refuses to continue with a game for a period of up to five (5) minutes in a match or till the expiration of full time of any half of the game or walksoff the pitch, it shall forfeit the match to its opponent by 3 points 3 goals or the score at the time of abandonment whichever is higher”.4.2(5) The club shall in addition pay a fine of N500,000.00 to League within Fourteen (14) days.

3. The Committee also noted the inability of Crown FC Officials to control the Conduct of their Supporters thus leading to the Vandalization of the J. Atete Team Bus hence the committee Directs that Crown FC be fined the Sum of One Million Naira (N1000,000) in line with Art.4.3(5) and 4.3(6) 7.0(2) Clubs shall be held responsible for the behaviour of their supporters/fans before, during, and after any match.

4. The Committee also directs the NNL to ensure that the next Two (2) Home Matches of Crown FC should be played under closed door

PRIME FC BANISHED TO ILORIN

With the aftermath incident of what happened in Osogbo, in the game involving Prime FC and Remo Stars FC.

In which the players and officials of Remo stars were beaten and chased off the pitch, which also involved the beaten and man handled of the match officials.

NFF Disciplinary Committee have come out to rule that Prime FC remaining home games be played in Ilorin for the rest of the season.

1. The Committee finds the Supporters of Prime FC Guilty of gross misconduct and hereby place a one Year Ban on the Supporters of Prime FC in line with Art. 6.0(2)

2. The Committee hereby place a ban on Player Olabisi Olagunju of Prime FC for a period of Three (3) Matches for harassing a Referee in line with. Art. 7.(21)

3. The Committee hereby place a fine of One Million Naira (N1,000,000.00) on Prime FC for their inability to control the behaviour of their spectators in line Art.6.01 and Art.7.(02)

4. That Prime FC is hereby banished to play the remaining of their league home matches at Ilorin Kwara State in line with Art. 6.01

5. The Committee directs that the NNL should quantify the cost of items lost by the officials i.e 3 stopwatches, 2 flags, 1 yellow card and communicate a refund of the cost to the management of Prime FC and collect same which the NNL shall hand over to the match officials concern

EAGLES CAMP BUBBLING FOR TANZANIA

Franco-German Gernot Rohr took charge of the Nigeria senior men’s squad, Super Eagles, for the first time on Tuesday as the team began training sessions ahead of Saturday’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania.

Rohr and a number of players could not fly to Uyo from Lagos on Monday as ARIK airline eventually cancelled their flight after many hours. But the entourage landed in Uyo just after noon on Tuesday.

On arrival at the team’s Le Meridien Hotel, Coach Rohr had a meeting with his assistants, backroom staff and players present, before the evening’s training session at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium.

In camp as at Tuesday evening were Skipper Mikel John Obi, assistant captain Ahmed Musa, goalkeepers Emmanuel Daniel and Ikechukwu Ezenwa, defenders Musa Muhammed, Chidozie Awaziem, Abdullahi Shehu, Jamiu Alimi, Leon Balogun, William Troost-Ekong and Elderson Echiejile, midfielders Ogenyi Onazi, Wilfred Ndidi and Nosa Igiebor and forwards Brown Ideye, Imoh Ezekiel, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Moses, Odion Ighalo and Victor Osimhen.

Team administrator Dayo Enebi Achor confirmed toreportersthat Belgium –based Moses Simon and Slovakia –based Kingsley Madu will arrive on Wednesday.

The delegation of Tanzania’s Taifa Stars is expected to arrive in Nigeria on Wednesday, while the match officials will jet in on Thursday.

NTTF TO UNVEIL TEAM FOR ITTF WORLD JUNIOR EVENT

The team that will represent Nigeria at the 2016 ITTF World Junior Championship in South Africa will be unveiled after days of rigorous training cum trails expected to be concluded this week.

  The 18 players in camp are expected to fight for shirts in the ten-man team that will fly the country’s flag at the global tournament.

  According to the coordinator of the camping exercise, Segun Toriola, the players have continued to give their best in order to be part of the team, adding that the final list would be made known this week.

“There is no doubt that the players are eager to be part of the team to the tournament in South Africa and I am really impressed with the performance of the players in camp and I am hoping that we will select the best for the country. However, we will organise trial for them to pick the best hands and this will be our yardstick to name the team,” he said.

However, some of the players in camp include Amadi Umeh, Abayomi Animasahun and Azeez Solanke, believe they cannot afford to miss their places in the team having been part of the team to Algiers where the team picked a spot to the global tournament.

  The invited players were part of the team that featured at the ITTF African Junior Championship in Algiers where they qualified for the World Juniors, while outstanding players from the National U-16 tournament also made it to the camp.

  For the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, the camp becomes necessary as some of the players would tutor on the latest rudiment of the sport. “The selected players will later go into close camping before the championship in November and they will continue to train in readiness for the competition. Segun Toriola will surely depart to his base after the camping and we hope the coaches around can continue to sharpen the skills of the players before the tournament which has Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia representing Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.”

  

SUPER EAGLES CAMP OPEN FOR TANZANIA

Nigeria’s senior men’s squad, Super Eagles. will open camp in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State on Monday for Saturday’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Tanzania.

NFF Deputy General Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme arrived in the Akwa Ibom State capital on Friday as a one-man advance party, ahead of the team’s assistant coaches and backroom staff due in town on Monday morning.

Home –boys Emmanuel Daniel, Ikechukwu Ezenwa (goalkeepers) and Jamiu Alimi (defender) are also expected in Uyo on Monday alongside a number of overseas –based professionals, including defender William Troost-Ekong and forward Odion Ighalo.

Team captain Mikel John Obi, fresh from leading the Nigeria U23 to Olympic bronze in Brazil, is expected to arrive at the team’s Le Meridien Hotel on Tuesday.

Both the Super Eagles and Taifa Stars have little other than pride to battle for in Saturday’s game, as Egypt’s Pharaohs have already picked the lone ticket from the group to Gabon. But the Eagles and their new Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr will use the match as a rehearsal for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Series Matchday 1 clash with Zambia in Ndola on 8^thOctober.

The result at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium on Saturday will not count, but the outcome of the encounter at the Levy Nwanawasa Stadium in Ndola five weeks later will set the tone for the Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifying campaign.

Team officials confirmed toreporterson Sunday that Franco-German Rohr, who keenly followed Nigeria’s campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympics and travelled to Spain to see the country’s domestic stars in a couple of friendly matches against Spanish La Liga sides, will also be in Uyo on Monday.

FULL LIST:

Goalkeepers: Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Emmanuel Daniel (Enugu Rangers); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (FC IfeanyiUbah)

Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); William Troost-Ekong (Haugesund FC, Norway); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Porto, Portugal); Jamiu Alimi (Kano Pillars); Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira, Portugal); Musa Muhammed (Istanbul Basaksehir, Turkey); Elderson Echiejile (AS Monaco, France), Kingsley Madu (AS Trencin, Slovakia)

Midfielders: Mikel John Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Nosa Igiebor (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Leicester City, England); Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Victor Moses (Chelsea FC, England); Imoh Ezekiel (Al-Arabi Sporting Club, Qatar), Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England); Brown Ideye (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Victor Osimhen (Wolfsburg FC, Germany)

Fidelis Iluchukwu

BASHIR, BARAJE WINS LBA JULY AWARDS

Baraje and Bashir were named among eight shortlists earlier this week by the LBA to compete for honours in the month of July.

The Plateau United trainer beat the trio of Kabiru Dogo of Nasarawa United, Imama Amapakabo of Enugu Rangers and FC Ifeanyiubah's Rafael
Everton to win the manager's award for the month under review.

The Jos club under Baraje, especially since his return from suspension after an initial poor run of results at the start of the season, have moved out of the drop zone and the month of July was instrumental in achieving that feat as they lost just once at Lobi Stars. Baraje's men notched up 10 points last month, a feat only equalled by Nasarawa United.

However, Baraje and his team did the job mostly on the road - winning at Abia Warriors and MFM FC - and also getting just a win and a draw against champions Enyimba and Akwa United respectively leaving his other contenders Amapakabo and Everton, who guided their teams to unbeaten run, with no chance to upstage his July performance with Plateau United in July.

In the player's category, there was no doubt about the man who would claim the NPFL-LBA individual prize. Bashir was in the thick of things attacking-wise for Nasarawa United and his goals helped them win 10 points out of 15 available last month.

He scored a goal each in all five matches in July against Rivers United, 3SC, Sunshine Stars, Ikorodu United and El-Kanemi Warriors to fend off any sort of challenge from Plateau United goalkeeper, Danladi Isah, Fortune Omoniwari of Akwa United and Kingsley Eduwo of Lobi Stars.

BARAJE AND DANLADI MADE THE CUT FOR JULY

Four players and four coaches were listed among the nominees on Monday
to vie for the NPFL-LBA for the month of July.

In the race for the manager's award are Kabiru Dogo of Nasarawa
United, Plateau United's Zachary Baraje, Rafael Everton of FC
Ifeanyiubah and Imama Amapakabo of Enugu Rangers.

Dogo and Baraje helped their teams amass 10 points from five matches
apiece in the month under review and also lost once each. However,
Plateau United under Baraje stunned the bookmakers when they won at
Abia Warriors by a goal on July 3 and also won 1-0 at MFM FC on the
last day of July.

Nasarawa United managed by Dogo notched up two big wins at home
against Sunshine Stars and El-Kanemi with identical 3-0 scorelines
having added Rivers United to the teams they conquered in July. Their
other point came at struggling Ikorodu United where they played out a
2-2 draw on July 24.

FC Ifeanyiubah's Brazilian trainer, Everton and Amapakabo share the
same stats for July. Both men guided their teams to unbeaten streaks
and got nine points apiece. Rangers' 3-2 win at Akwa United proved a
major catalyst in Amapakabo making the shortlists for the manager of
July.

The tussle for the July players has quite an interesting field that
includes Plateau United goalkeeper, Danladi Isah. The custodian will
have to face the trio of outfield players in Abdulrahman Bashir
(Nasarawa United), Fortune Omoniwari (Akwa United) and Kingsley Eduwo
(Lobi Stars).

Isah kept three clean sheets in July - two on the road at Abia
Warriors and MFM FC and then at home to Enyimba. The Plateau United
goalkeeper was one of the reasons his team came out of their contest
at Abia Warriors as one-nil winners. He then followed up with superb
performances against Enyimba and MFM FC. Isah also saved a spot kick
at the Agege Stadium in Lagos to help his team to a 1-0 win over MFM
FC.

Omoniwari scored thrice for Akwa United in July in their losses at
home to Rangers and then away at Warri Wolves while Eduwo netted on
matchdays 27, 28 and 29 against Plateau United, Rangers and Warri
Wolves to take his tally to three goals in the month under review.

Nasarawa United striker, Bashir, who has been among the shortlists in
the past two months, notched up five goals in five matches against
Rivers United, 3SC, Sunshine Stars, Ikorodu United and El-Kanemi
Warriors.

The winners of the NPFL-LBA for July will be announced this week.


THE SHORTLIST FOR JULY

Players
Abdulrahman Bashir (Nasarawa United)
Fortune Omoniwari (Akwa United)
Danladi Isah (Plateau United)
Kingsley Eduwo (Lobi Stars)

Managers
Kabiru Dogo (Nasarawa United)
Zachary Baraje (Plateau United)
Rafael Everton (FC Ifeanyiubah)
Imama Amapakabo (Enugu Rangers)

ROHR LISTS 23 PLAYERS FOR TANZANIA IN UYO

Nigeria’s Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr has invited 23 players, including Captain Mikel John Obi and goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, for next month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania.

The match is a dead rubber, as both teams have been eliminated, but Rohr and the Super Eagles are using the game as rehearsal for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying series Matchday 1 clash with Zambia in Ndola in October.

The Franco-German, named Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles by the NFF two weeks ago, has called up three goalkeepers, eight defenders, four midfielders and eight forwards for the game scheduled for the Akwa Ibom International Stadium, Uyo on Saturday, 3^rd September.

Captain Mikel John Obi, whose sterling leadership of the Nigeria U23 to the Bronze Medal match of the Rio 2016 Olympics has drawn global applause, is joined in the midfield by the energetic Ogenyi Onazi, Belgium –based former youth international Wilfred Ndidi and Israel –based Nosa Igiebor, who has not featured for Nigeria since missing the cut for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Emmanuel Daniel, who has done his reputation no harm with some breath –taking reflex saves at the Olympics, joins Carl Ikeme and Ikechukwu Ezenwa to fight for the gloves, while home –based Jamiu Alimi finds a place amongst Leon Balogun, William Troost-Ekong, Chidozie Awaziem, Abdullahi Shehu, Musa Muhammed, Elderson Echiejile and Kingsley Madu in the defence.

Rohr, a former defender, has also opted for a strong attacking line, with assistant captain Ahmed Musa leading Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Victor Moses, Imoh Ezekiel, Odion Ighalo, Brown Ideye and youngster Victor Osimhen.

All the players have been directed to report in Uyo on Sunday, 28^th August 2016.

FULL LIST:

Goalkeepers: Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Emmanuel Daniel (Enugu Rangers); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (FC IfeanyiUbah)

Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); William Troost-Ekong (Haugesund FC, Norway); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Porto, Portugal); Jamiu Alimi (Kano Pillars); Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira, Portugal); Musa Muhammed (Istanbul Basaksehir, Turkey); Elderson Echiejile (AS Monaco, France), Kingsley Madu (AS Trencin, Slovakia)

Midfielders: Mikel John Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Nosa Igiebor (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Leicester City, England); Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Victor Moses (Chelsea FC, England); Imoh Ezekiel (Al-Arabi Sporting Club, Qatar), Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England); Brown Ideye (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Victor Osimhen (Wolfsburg FC, Germany)

CCSF PRODUCT WINS MEDAL AT RIO

Gold medalist of the 2nd Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) International Taekwondo Opens, Niger Republic’s Issoufou Alfaga Abdoulrazak, has followed up his 2013 exposure by winning a Silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the +80kg Weight Category.

The 6ft 9” competitor had his very first exposure to the daedo electronic system that was used at the Rio 2016 Olympics during the CCSF Opens editions held in 2013, when he won the edition.

In a historic development for West Africa, a total of three medals were won by the region. Cote D’Ivoire’s Cheick Sallah Cissé, who is the current African Champion, took it a big step forward when he won the Gold medal in the Male -80kg category by beating London 2012 Bronze Medallist, Lutalo Mohammed [8 - 6] in an epic final.

In winning the Gold medal, the 23-year old showman has become the first ever African to win an Olympic Gold medal in the sport of Taekwondo. He is also the first Ivorien to win an Olympic Gold medal.

His countrywoman, 22-year old Ruth Gbagi, who is also the African Champion won an Olympic Bronze by defeating Azerbaijan’s Farida Azizova [7 – 1] in the Bronze medal match, after she had initially narrowly lost [4 – 5 to number one ranked player in that category, France’s Haby Niare.

The double Olympic medals won the tiny West African nation marks an extraordinary climax to the investment poured into the Taekwondo development project for the past four years. The Cote D’Ivoire team is coached by local and indigenous coach, Attada Tadjou, who is half-Nigerian.

Niger Republic’s Alfaga lost to Azerbaijan’s Radik Isaev, who is also the current World and European Champion. The Azerbaijan had earlier defeated 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist, South Korea’s, Cha Don Ming [12 – 8] in the Quarter-Finals and Great Britain’s Mahama Cho [ 4 - 1] in the semi-finals.

Nigeria will remember that 3-time Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije, defeated the newly crowned Olympic Champion [3 – 2] when they met in the Round of 16 at the 2014 Grand Prix in Manchester.

For the 22-year Alfaga, the Silver medal is the first Olympic medal ever won by Niger Republic, and has turned him into a national hero overnight. For the past year, he was coached by former German National Coach, Markus Kohlöffel, who also coached Tunisia’s Yassine Trabelsi and Senegal’s Balla Dieye in the +80kg and -80kg category respectively.

Other medals won by African athletes include Bronze medals won by Egypt’s Hedaya Wahba in the female 57kg category and Tunisia’s Oussama Oueslati in the 80kg category. Defending Olympic champion and tournament favourite in the +80kg category, Gabon’s Anthony’s Obame was defeated by Great Britain’s Mahama Cho [12 – 6] in the first round.

The total haul of five 5 Olympic medals is the most ever medal return by African athletes at the Taekwondo event of the Olympic Games.

The next edition of the bi-annual CCSF Opens will be in 2017. Perhaps, Tokyo 2020 Medallists will be unveiled at this edition.

Picture caption: Olympic Silver Medallist, Niger Republic's Abdoulrazak Alfaga, receives his Gold medal at the 2nd CCSF Opens from the Late. Sen. Uche Chukwumerije.

ARUNA QUADRI FEAT AT RIO GETS ITTF RECOGNITION

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games has ended but the scintillating performance of Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri made one of the major highlights listed by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
In the Rio 2016 Wrap Up published at the weekend on the website of the world table tennis ruling body, Aruna was described as the Africa star of Rio.
  “The Men’s Singles event also featured fantastic performances from two players in particular: Hugo Calderano and Quadri Aruna. Calderano made full use of the home crowd advantage as the Brazilian negotiated the likes of Par Gerell and Tang Peng on his way to a round four finish,” ITTF said.
  The body added: “Nigerian contestant Aruna Quadri caused arguably the biggest upsets in the category as the 27th seed beat Chuang Chih-Yuan (6th) and Timo Boll (10th) before eventually exiting to Ma Long in the last eight – becoming the first African to reach that stage of an Olympic Table Tennis competition.”
  Quoting Quadri after the feat, “This is amazing, I don’t know what to say. My fans made me do this. Thank you for all the Brazilian spectators for their support. They gave me so much energy. This feels so good, it is a dream come true.”
  Also, the Women’s Singles tournament at Rio 2016 saw China’s Ding Ning win her first ever Olympic singles gold medal, after her victory over the London 2012 champion Li Xiaoxia (China). Both finalists brought their ‘A’ game as two of the world’s top competitors fought it out for the ultimate prize, but there could only be one winner and it was Ding who took it in the seventh game to seal the gold (11-9, 5-11, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7).
  Sadly, Li Xiaoxia confirmed that Rio 2016 would be her final appearance for China, “It’s with pity to retire, but it’s for a better future.” Li added, “Life can’t be always sweet, and I’ll face my retirement with a smile. Thank you table tennis for everything that the sport has gave me.”
  Ma Long stood victorious over fellow compatriot Zhang Jike in the Men’s Singles final, as China won their second Table Tennis gold medal of the Games.
  With the top two seeds going head-to-head there was potential for a thrilling final, however, after edging the first end in deuce, Ma thundered past Zhang in the following three games to win the gold medal on his Olympic singles debut (14-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4).
  Jun Mizutani played some of the best Table Tennis of his career at Rio 2016, and he did his country proud by becoming the first Japanese competitor to win a singles medal at an Olympic Games with his victory against Belarusian Vladimir Samsonov in the bronze medal match.
  Two major achievements came from the Women’s Team category, as Germany won silver and Mima Ito won a team bronze with Japan.
Germany’s silver is the first medal of any colour to be won by a European country in the Women’s Team competition, while Japanese teenager Mima Ito became the youngest competitor to win an Olympic Table Tennis medal aged 15 years and 300 days exactly.

20 PLAYERS IN CAMP FOR ITTF JUNIOR WORLD EVENT

The National Training Centre of the Lagos National Stadium will come alive on Monday August 23 as 20 players made up of 12 boys and eight girls begin camping for the ITTF World Junior Championships in Cape Town, South Africa.

The camping would be used to select the players that will represent the country at the global championship under the watchful eyes of seven-time Olympian, Segun Toriola as part of his efforts to inspire young players.

Some of the players were part of the team that featured at the ITTF African Junior Championship in Algiers where they qualified for the World Juniors.

  Also, the outstanding players from the National U-16 tournament also made the list of players invited to camp.

According to the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, the camping is necessary as some of the players would gain from the experience of Toriola, who has been celebrated globally for his consistency and discipline in the sport.

“We are blessed with talents just like Aruna Quadri and we don’t want to lose the momentum by ensuring that we come through with our programmes. This camping becomes necessary as we want to select the best hands among the junior players so that they can also test might with their foreign counterparts at the world juniors. With the experience of Toriola and Michael Oyebode, who were both in Rio Olympic Games, I am confident that camping would have impart on the players and prepare them for the championship,” Oshodi said.

He added: “The selected players will later go into close camping before the championship in November and they will continue to train in readiness for the competition. Toriola will surely depart to his base after the camping and we hope the coaches around can continue to sharpen the skills of the players before the tournament which has Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia representing Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.”

  The invited players are Abayomi Animasahun, Azeez Solanke, Amadi Umeh, Michael Abayomi, Augustine Emmanuel, Jamiu Ayanwale, Ololade Oyenekan, Tobi Falana, Etim Orok, Babafemi Babatunde and Umar Ibrahim for boys and the girls include Tosin Oribamise Agnes Onoja, Ajoke Ojomu, Alimot Ayinla, Rofiat Jimoh, Iyanuoluwa Falana, Vivian Akpan and Sukurat Aiyelabegan.  

  NTTF will cater for the players’ feeding and accommodation while their states are expected to offset their transport fare.

NPFL REFEREES TO HANDLE NNL LAST THREE MATCHES

The Ad Hoc committee of Nigeria National League rose from its meeting on Thursday and came up with the following points. 

1.  Ad Hoc Committee expressed appreciation to the NFF and the LMC for their support to the League in the ongoing 2015/2016 abridged League, and pledged loyalty to the Leadership of the NFF.

2.The Committee also appreciated the contribution received from the League Management Company (LMC) towards the payment of indemnities of match officials while looking forward to a better working relationship to complete the 2^ndhalf of the league season.

3.The Committee frowned at the spate of violence at match venues, and noted that no football match is worth the blood/life of any Nigerian.

4.That the league will be placed on hold for two weeks so as to allow the Disciplinary Committee and the Appeals Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation dispense the various cases before them.

5.The League will resume on the 3^rdof September, 2016 after the determination of all cases before the NFF judicial bodies.

6.That no club indebted to the league including fines will be allowed to play their three remaining matches.

7.That all clubs must henceforth satisfy security requirements in line with the provisions of the rules and regulations guiding the league (Article 3.4 (1-4)). No match should commence until this condition is satisfied.

8.All Clubs shall write a commitment of non violence letter of guarantee at all match venues, which must get to the NNL secretariat within 7 days on receipt of this notice.

9.That the remaining matches of the league shall be handled by Premier League Referees and Match Commissioners. Secret match assessors shall also be dispatched to match venues to monitor the conduct of both clubs and match officials.

NTTF TO HONOUR LEGEND TORIOLA

There are plans by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to follow the footsteps of International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), to honour legend Segun Toriola who became the first African to attend seven Olympic Games.

For the President of NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, it behooves on the federation to honour Toriola for his giant strides in the sport while there are plans to recommend the former African champion and others for national honours.

  "The NTTF will definitely be celebrating the Legend with a series of activities in Nigeria. His achievements are so inspiring that we must find a way to say thank you to this great talented patriotic Nigerian. The IOC, the ITTF and the ATTF have led the way and we surely will ensure that we give him a befitting award. We are also hopeful that the Ministry of Youth and Sports will join us in this laudable quest. This will be done at a time to fit into his busy schedule.”

  He added: “We shall also be making a fervent case for athletes like Toriola, Funke Oshonaike Bose Kaffo and Babatunde Obisanya  alongside other remarkable athletes outside football and athletics be recognized when national honours are being awarded.”

NNL MENACE TO RUB ON NPFL

With the trend of happening going on in the Nigeria National League for the past five years, and with this season climax with violence across match centres week in, week out,

The NFF has to raise up to the challenges surrounding the lower Cadre of the league, with allegations of match bribery, non payment of players wages.

Some of the acts in the NNL have to be stopped quickly so that these acts wouldn't rub on the already good structure put in places in by LMC .

This season cases of violence have been sighted in Warri, Osogbo, Omoku and Gombe to mention but few, which made the NRA executive to called on their members to boycott league games in the lower cadre.

If these acts are brought under control, we will witness more of such actions seen in Onikan stadium and Agege stadium, citing examples with these clubs simply because they got promoted at the end of last season from the NNL to NPFL, which proved the facts that the lower league Cadre is full of violence and something drastic has to be done to curtain the menace.

SPORTS MINISTRY REFUNDS MIKEL OBI $4,600

Excited about the qualification of the Nigeria U23 team for the semi finals of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has again assured players and officials of the team that they will be given all that is due to them.

Addressing the players and officials after the 2-0 defeat of Denmark in Saturday’s quarter final match in Salvador, the Sports Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Chinyeaka Ohaa, said: "I am happy to be a Nigerian, because in spite of all the challenges, you have taken the world by storm; you have by your performance given happiness to more than 160 million Nigerians. Football is the biggest unifying factor in Nigeria today. From Mr. President to the average Nigerian you have made everyone proud today.

"I am humbled by your efforts, your commitment, your patriotism. I want to assure you that your sacrifices will not be in vain. Aside whatever the NFF have for you, we will as much as possible make you happy, if only you will be patient with us. Today, with your performance, I am convinced that you will get that gold.”

Responding, Captain Mikel Obi said: "We want to thank you for your fatherly support. In truth, there have been a lot of challenges, but every time we go onto the field, we forget about everything and make sure our fatherland comes first. We have done that so far and we will continue to do that, but we need more motivation."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has refunded to Captain Mikel Obi the $4,600 he paid for the team in São Paulo on their way to Salvador.

SCAM LEAGUE OF SORRY, TALES AND BLOOD

From the first week of kick off for the new season in the Nigeria National League, the league has been plaque with all sort of negative reports from match officials beaten up and players chased round by fans.
This follows non-payment of players’ salaries by clubs, and the win at all cause that plaques the league, makes it a do or die affair in the lower league.
Some few days back the Nigeria Referee Association circulated a memo to stop her members from officiating in the lower leagues to the frequent harassment and beating of its members.
The 13th of August 2016 witness how fans descended heavily on the trio of, J. OGUNTOYINBI, TOPE AJAYI AND K. ONILEARO from Ekiti states in Osogbo, in the game involving Prime Fc of Osogbo and Remo stars FC of Remo.
The players and coaches crew of Remo stars were not let out of the beaten, the away team had to scale through the township stadium and seek refuge in a nearby mobile police station.
With the length of time used in covering the Nigeria National league, the organisers need to do more in term of security because its common phenomenon that when the league is getting to the tail end lot of negative antics are usually associated with the teams ,either on home ground or away ties.  

NIGERIA ARUNA SUBDUED CHINESE TAIPEI TO PROGRESS

Aruna Quadri became one of the giant killers at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the Nigerian worked his way into the fourth round of the men’s singles after beating Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan. In the fourth round, he is expected to face Germany’s Timo Boll, who is seeded number 10 at Rio later on August 8, 2016.

The win made him to equal the feat achieved by Toriola at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China where the former African champion made it to the same stage of the championship.

Amidst huge support from the Brazilian fans, Quadri turned the tide of event when he humbled the number seven ranked player in the world with a 4-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7) bashing of the Asian star who was a semifinalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Quadri who is ranked 40 in the world and 27 at the Rio Olympic Games made nonsense of the skills of the number five seed of the tournament.

 Quadri who earlier this year was beating black and blue by the Asian star at the German Open said he is focused on his next encounter against Germany’s Timo Boll.

  “I am growing in confidence because the last time I played Chuang Chih-Yuan was earlier this year on the ITTF World Tour in Germany, I lost in four straight games, my goal today was to improve on that performance and fight to win one game!”

  “After I won the first game I became more confident. It is so hard playing Chuang Chih-Yuan, he is so consistent, he keeps putting the ball on the table, you must try to be positive against him and put him under pressure. Also he was clever with his services, he changes short and long. In the first game I made mistakes returning service. Today he was below his best, he did not play well,” Quadri added.

OSHONAIKE SHOWN THE EXIT

In the women’s singles event, Nigeria’s duo of Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong were shown the exit in the first round after they put up good performance in the preliminary round.
In the preliminary round, it was an easy win for Edem Offiong who walloped Fiji’s Sally Yee 4-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-2).
Despite recording a 4-3 win, Olufunke Oshonaike would not forget in a hurry what nearly caused her an early exit as she squandered a 3-1 lead and it took experience for her to overcome Lebanon’s Mariana Sahakian with a 4-3 (8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8).
In the first round, Olufunke Oshonaike fell to Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz 4-2, while Edem Offiong was edged out by Belarus’ PAVLOVICH Viktoria 4-1.
Olufunke Oshonaike, who was Team Nigeria’s flagbearer during the opening ceremony admitted after managing to win her preliminary match that, ‘I’m so tired, I don’t know where I am. I didn’t get to bed until after 2.00am this morning, I feel like a bomb has hit me. Experience got me through today. I could not focus, I could not concentrate but I carried the Nigerian flag, I am through to the first round, I’m so happy!”

ARUNA QUADRI MATCHES ON

Aruna Quadri on Sunday restored Nigeria’s hope in the table tennis event of Rio Olympic Games after beating Slovakia’s Yang Wang 4-1 in the men’s singles.
An elated Quadri said: after the match, Quadri said: “In the Olympic first match to play Wang Yang was really so very difficult. You can never be sure, I find it difficult to read the spin on the ball when he defends and I made mistakes; then of course sometimes he will attack. It is difficult to really feel settled against him. I made mistakes; then of course sometimes he will attack with his forehand. I have played him twice before and both times I lost and I am happy I won the match."
On Monday, Aruna Quadri is expected to battle against world number seven, Chinese Taipei’s Chih-Yuan Chuang in the third round match of the men’s singles.

TORIOLA BOWS OUT

The legendary performance of Segun Toriola at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games came to a glorious end on Sunday August 7 after the record making African was edged out by Japan’s Niwa Koki in the men’s singles event of table tennis.
Despite his exit, the world table tennis ruling body, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) plans to organise a ceremony in Rio to honour the Nigerian for his Olympic feat after making his seventh appearance at the Olympic Games being the first African to achieve the feat.
Toriola who is ranked 120 in the world, had on Saturday August 6 bundled out Czech Republic’s Dimitrij Prokopcov in the first round.
Playing against a higher ranked Prokopcov in the first round of the Men’s Singles event, the African legend pulled off an impressive performance against his opponent with a 4-2 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8) win to end the Czech’s Olympic dream in Rio.
In the second round tie against the Japanese ranked 22 in the world, Toriola put up a good fight as the young Asian was made to work hard for his victory against the veteran.
To exit the competition, Toriola fell 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 11-4, 6-11, 1-11 (4-2) to the Japanese star.
Prior to his second round encounter against the Japanese, Toriola had caused an upset in the first round when he bundled out Czech Republic’s Dimitrij Prokopcov.
The 41 year-old Toriola, whose seventh Olympic Games appearance equals the table tennis record and makes him the most capped African Olympian stated after beating the Czech: “I’ve played him in the French League three times and I’ve lost every time. Today I felt confident before the match, I played without any fear. My first attack was strong and he made mistakes, the main problem for me was that I made mistakes when playing short.”

WASTEFUL WORLD CHAMPION ON TIGHTROPE

FIFA U17 World Cup defending champions, Nigeria started their campaign for the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Madagascar 2017 with a narrow 1-0 win against Junior Menas of Niger Republic at the Abuja National Stadiumon Saturday.


Nigeria took the lead as early as the second minute by Usman Musa (Babalolo) following a pass from Nazifi Yahaya. But thereafter, it became a ding-dong affair with few chances in between throughout the end of the first half. The second stanza produced no goal either as the Nigeriens defended in
their numbers but Coach Manu Garba is yet upbeat about the second leg which takes place in Niamey in a fortnight, adding that Nigeria as defending world champions would leave no stone unturned to progress to the next round.


"It was a difficult game but we thank God we won and by the grace of God, we are going to win in Niger," Garba said afterwards. “Our expectations were high after we scored an early goal but we wasted a lot of chances thereafter. We have noticed our errors and we will correct them before the second leg; we just want Nigerians to be prayerful for these boys, we are going to qualify," he noted.

CURSES OF SOUTH-WEST DERBY

Curse of south-west NPFL derby

In as much as the media, most especially the new brand of multimedia journalists, in as much as they are trying to breeze new breath of life into the football scene by creating awareness for the fan about the new way the league is run away from the old ways of doing things during the NPL era, yet the club administrators in the south west can't leverage on the popularity of the south-west derbies.

On each match day from Lagos to Akure to Ibadan the case on each match day involving clubs from this areas in the NPFL end up in violence, instead of clubs leveraging on the television coverage to maximize profit on gate fees, merchandise and other aspect to generate extra revenue, what we have is either game abandon or club officials ended up hospitalized .

The truth of it is that while the food vendors are smiling to the various bank, clubs are squeezing faces to LMC and NFF panel and are being fined for crowd disturbance or beating up of match officials.

Clubs in the south-west need to wake up and face the realities of modern days football business management, branding and marketing.

MFM FC and Sunshine Stars can testify to lose of revenues due to closed doors games, 3sc fans can talk of the loses of playing home games away from Ibadan.

All these clubs all have one or two curses the South-derby has inflicted in them due to wrong handling of this derby, I believe it's high time all involved in these derbies to ensure the best positive outcome on match day.