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Nigeria, the defending
champions and Angola were
the only teams that recorded
away wins during the first
leg matches of the second
round qualifier. The Flying
Eagles managed a 2-1 win in
Dar es Salaam, after taking
a two goal lead at half
time.Leading marksman in the
Nigerian Premier League,
Alhadji Gero of Enugu
Rangers fame scored both
goals for Nigeria. The
Ngorongoro Heroes reacted in
the second half, pulling one
goal back through Atupele
Green, which according to
their Danish coach, Jakob
Michelsen, gives them hopes
of qualification.
Angola also triumphed by a
lone goal at the Rufaro
Stadium in Harare with
Mateus Domingo scoring the
only goal of the match on 65
minutes.
Despite the victory, Angola
coach Andre Nzunzi insists
the tie is far from over and
has cautioned his charges
ahead of the return
encounter.
"This is the first leg and
we will have the second leg.
This is not enough for us
and we will continue to work
harder and harder. We
believe Zimbabwe have a
strong team," Nzunzi was
quoted by Zimbabwean daily,
Herald.
Elsewhere in Conakry, Guinea
saw off Burkina Faso 2-1 in
a closely fought game. Sekou
Keita and Pepe Guilavogui
scored for the Guineans in
each half before Alasane
Nikiema grabbed a
consolation for the visitors
in the dying embers.
The Junior Wasps of Rwanda
also dismissed their Malian
counterparts 2-1 in Kigali.
The visitors went up on 22
minutes through Samba Diallo
before Emmanuel Sebanani
restored parity on 75
minutes. On the stroke of
full time, Patrick Umwungeli
headed home the winner to
send crowd at the Stade de
Kigali into a partying mood.
The Hippos of Uganda pulled
up one of the shocking
results of the weekend
qualifiers coming from
behind to beat the Black
Satellites of Ghana 3-1.
Interestingly, it was the
visiting Black Satellites
who shot into the lead after
just five minutes through
midfielder Michael Anaba
before Julius Ogwang drew
level three minutes later.
Few minutes later, Joseph
Mpande fired the hosts into
the lead for the first time
in the game, capitalising on
a blunder by the Ghanaian
rear before Ogwang scored
his second of the game just
before half time after Gift
Ali had put him through.
Congo accounted for South
Africa 2-1 in Brazzaville
after going down to Thabani
Mthembu opener on eight
minutes. Just before half
time, Percy Durrel Akoli
drew parity from the spot
before Constantine Bakaki
scored the winner on 55
minutes.
Jonathan Akinyemi, First
Nigerian Canoe Olympian
It's been a real privilege
to have been given the
opportunity t o represent
Nigeria at the Olympics.
'I have had the full support
of everyone in Nigeria. It
was a bit of a shame not to
get a better result, but I
really enjoyed it.'
These are the words of
Jonathan Akinyemi at the
weekend when he became
the Nigerian first ever
Olympian to compete in
canoe slalom.
The British born Nigerian
found it delightful as he
was supported by the
Nigerian delegates at the
competition. He explained
that he was persuaded to
represent Nigeria, when he
visited Nigeria five years
ago and with the prospect
of competing at the 20 12
London Olympics the offer
was too good to turn
down, he said.
Akinyemi finished 21st out
of 22 competitors in the K1,
with the top 15 going
through.
His best time of 10 4
seconds was 17 seconds off
the pace after he h it
four gates in the first
run and incurred a
50-second penalty in his
second run for missing a
gate.
However, he admitted that
the experience of the Games
was one he would never
forget. ###
Ministry Of Sports Should
Build Games Village If
~ Ezekiel
The former Head of
Facilities and Equipment in
Rivers State Sports Council,
Evang. Ezekiel Ordu has
asked the Ministry of Sports
to build a games village as
a matter of urgency if she
wanted her athletes to
perform better than what
they are doing presently at
competitions.
He said before the athletes
were camped in Uniport they
went to Iriebe but were
chased out by the Ministry
of Housing. He observed
that there was no
understanding between the
two ministries, stressing
that it is important for
the Ministry of Sports to
have her own games
village where her athletes
will have the facilities to
train and enhance their
performance.
According to Evang. Ordu
what the state is lacking
compared to other state
athletes was this games
village saying almost all
the states are having
games village where their
athletes enjoy with
facilities.
The Civic Centre which is
in the heart of old
township is mixed up with
activities causing athletes
not to have constant
training adding that the
stadium authority will
have to account for the
stadia to the
government, for that he
recommended the main old
township field to be
refurbish and be used for
training of athletes which
the government has
approved.
He thanked governor Amaechi
for improvement in sports
facilities in the state,
adding that the turning of
the abandoned old township
field into mini stadium is
good development.
He observed that revamping
the abandoned facilities in
the town axis will really
bring out the best from the
athletes resident in the
area.
He said the state always
borrow camping facilities
whenever they have
competition which is not
good enough for the
athletes.
He advised the Ministry of
Sports to work towards
building a camping ground
for athletes in the state
with facilities and not to
go on borrowing.
Meanwhile, the state will be
going for zonal elimination
in September before the NSF
competition in November.
OD coaching Evang. Ordu has
promised to make the
governor proud in the
competition. ###
Anti-doping Officials Go
Tough On Doping
The on-going Olympic Games
officials are on the quest
to weed out drug cheats at
the London Olympics. The
testing has been shifted
from random to more refined
method and also
“Intelligence and
Information.”
Intelligence is by way
of obtaining information
about w hat may be going
on in the world of do
ping, may be in terms of
transport and transfer of
substance, how they are
coming in and out of a
country.
According to the vice
president of world
anti-doping agency we are
obviously working
with other agencies in
order to find out
information that could be
helpful in producing the
best possible anti-doping
program, and doping-control
program.”
He said up to 6,250
samples will be tested
during the London Olympics
collected by more than 1000
anti-doping workers adding
that as at Monday morning
1,4 61 blood and urine
tests had been collected.
“The number of samples is
not necessarily the
important thing, the
important thing is the
quality,” Arne said, “if you
talk about novelties or
innovations for these games,
there is one particular,
which means that we are
basing more of the testing
on intelligence and
information.”
It could be recorded that
some athletes had been
sent packing over drug
test in the on-going London
Olympics. ### |
