Friday 21 August 2015



Puma Produces Balotelli-Inspired Mohawk-Themed Boots

You just can’t keep Super Mario out of the news at the minute, can you?
The Liverpool striker has Jose Enrique telling the media that the pair are being ‘frozen out’ by Brendan Rodgers, he’s been linked with every Italian club to ever kick a ball, he dons an outrageous earring in a Liverpool cameo and then he turns up Manchester City’s changing room?!
Phew, long breath.
Well anyway, in the latest typically Mario Balotelli thing to happen in the life of Mario Balotelli he’s gone and designed some football boots in collaboration with current sponsor Puma.
The Puma evoPOWER boots are only available in junior sizes, have Balotelli’s infamous slogan ‘why always me?’ on the side and something a little bit furry on the heel…
Culled from Metro.co.uk

Thursday 20 August 2015



Ebola: Nigeria To Host Sierra Leone, CIV Clash

Nigeria will host the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier between defending champions Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone.
This was made known by the Nigeria Football Federation on Wednesday.
The game which comes up on Sunday, September 6, will either hold at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos or the Adokiye Amiesieamaka Stadium, Port Harcourt.
Sierra Leone and Guinea have been barred from hosting matches since the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus last year there.
But the NFF claim they have been cleared by health authorities to host the match in Nigeria.
“We are delighted to announce that we have received the go-ahead from the Federal Ministry of Health to host the match,” NFF President Amaju Pinnick said. “The Sierra Leoneans will come with a delegation of 32, made up of mostly overseas-based professionals, technical crew and officials of the SLFA, to be led by its president, Isha Johansen.
“We are happy about the go-ahead because, once more, our country has an opportunity to underscore its leadership role on the African continent, nay global sphere. The NFF has initiated discussions with the Lagos State Government and the Rivers State Government on preventive measures, such as keeping Sierra Leone’s small delegation in a special hotel where they can be monitored at all times.”
Pinnick stated further that the thought of hosting top Cote d’Ivoire stars most especially African Player of the Year, Yaya Toure, makes it worth the effort.
“We are talking of hosting the African champion team, with the likes of African Player of the Year, Yaya Toure and others, and this will certainly earn us commendation from CAF and FIFA.”





QPR-Bound Ikeme: I Doubted Eagles Call-Up

Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Carl Ikeme has admitted that he thought someone was joking with him when he was informed of his first international call-up for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
The 29-year-old will join up with the Super Eagles squad for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania next weekend in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Ikeme is reportedly attracting interest from Queens Park Rangers, who were relegated to the Championship from the Premier League last season.
Ikeme who pledged his allegiance to Nigeria years back will now challenge Super Eagles skipper Vincent Enyeama for a place in the side.
“When the message and the phone call came I thought someone was winding me up to start with,” he told the BCC.
“I spoke to the coach and it started to make more sense and I realised it was none of my cousins winding me up or anything like that.”
Ikeme was surprisingly dropped for Wolves’ home game against Hull City on Sunday in favour of Emiliano Martinez after his error in the defeat against Blackburn.

Tuesday 4 August 2015



Rafael Nadal beats Fabio Fognini to win Hamburg Open title

Nadal, playing in his first tournament since Wimbledon, had already lost to Fognini twice on clay this year.
But he won a tight final that saw 12 breaks of serve to extend his run of having won a European clay-court tournament every year since 2004.
It is the 67th singles title of the 29-year-old's career and his third in Hamburg, where he last won in 2008.
"It was a very tough final, it is an important title for me" said Nadal, who suffered cramp as he tried to conduct a post-match interview on the court.
Nadal, who has suffered from injuries this season, had not competed since he was knocked out of Wimbledon in the second round qualifier.
The Spaniard squandered a 3-1 lead in the final set but saved two set points before finally defeating the eighth seed in two hours 34 minutes.
"It was a great match, many great points, many breaks, we fought hard," added Nadal, who now has 47 titles on clay and will move up to ninth in the world rankings on Monday.


D’Tigers Hit France For Pre-Nations Cup Tourney


The Nigerian national men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, have departed for France to take part in an invitational tournament billed to hold between July 22 and 27, Sportsyan can report.
The team, according to officials of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, departed via Abuja in the early hours of Wednesday and will use the invitational tournament to prepare for the FIBA-African Championship scheduled to hold in Tunisia between 19 August and 30 August.
Completesportsnigeria.com was also informed that the team will be handled by the newly contracted American coach William Voigt, who has been mandated by the Nigeria Basketball Federation to win the African Championship.
Players on the trip include NBA stars Al Farouq Aminu and Ekpe Udoh who will be making his first appearance for Nigeria at the invitational tournament in France.
Alfarouq’s older brother Alade, Ike Diogu, Benjamin Uzoh, Stanley Okoye, Andy Ogide, Jamal Olasewere, Stanley Gumut , 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 are also in the squad.
Also making a return to the team are Chamberlain Oguchi and Derrick Obasohan who were part of the London 2012 Olympics.
Meanwhile, the team will remain in France after the tournament to prepare for the Nations Cup and from there move to Tunisia on August 15 for the tournament proper.

2016 Olympics: Hamilton Sees Falcons Ouster As Wake-up Call


Former Super Falcons coach, Paul Hamilton, has described the team’s ouster from the race to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by Equatorial Guinea as a wake up call.
The Falcons lost 2-1 despite scoring first through Ngozi Okobi, to crash out 3-2 on aggregate.
Speaking with Completesportsnigeria.com, Hamilton, said other African teams are fast closing the gap on Nigeria in women’s football.
“It was unfortunate that he Super Falcons have been knocked out after putting in their best. But I think this is a wakeup call on the team because they’ve been dominating for years and other African teams are now catching up,” Hamilton said.
“All hopes not lost, what they need to do is to pick up the pieces and work hard in order to get back to their best again, I believe they will bounce back.”





Oliseh Confirms Meeting Moses, To Invite Chelsea Star

Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has given a strong indication that he will give Victor Moses another opportunity to play in the team.
The Chelsea star has not played for the national team since the 2014 World Cup, where he reportedly fell out with then coach, Stephen Keshi.
Completesportsnigeria.com reports that Oliseh is expected to name his first squad this month for September’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Tanzania and he confirmed meeting with Moses in London over the weekend. The meeting was apparently about Moses’ return to the Super Eagles squad.
“Very constructive meeting with Chelsea & Super Eagles’ Victor Moses,” Oliseh wrote on Twitter on Monday night, the tweet accompanied with a picture of himself and Moses.
“The team building continues.”
Oliseh was at Wembley to watch Chelsea lose the Community Shield to Arsenal and Moses was a second half substitute as the Blues chased an equaliser. The other Super Eagles player at Chelsea, Mikel Obi, was an unused substitute.
Moses has had an impressive pre-season for Chelsea, scoring against PSG and being named man of the match in one of the games.
The former Wigan winger was one of Nigeria’s best players at the 2013 AFCON and he is apparently keen on a return to the squad.





               Okagbare Leads Nigeria’s 23-Man Team


Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor tops the list of 23 athletes selected by the Athletic Federation of Nigeria for the IAAF World Championship in Beijing,China from August 22-30.
 Okagbare,26,the reigning Commonwealth double sprint queen will feature in 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay events.
She won a silver and bronze at the last edition in Moscow, Russia two years ago in the 200m and the long jump.
With a 10.80 seconds personal season's best in the 100m,Okagbare is tipped to make history as the first Nigerian,man opr woman to win a blue ribband medal at the flagship of IAAF events. Also listed are Gloria Asumnu, Stephanie Kalu, Deborah Odeyemi, Cecilia Francis and Ngozi Onwumere for Nigeria’s 4x100m event.
For the 400m and 4x400m, Patience Okon George, Regina George, Tosin Adeloye, Margaret Etim, Funke Oladoye and Ruth Ossai are listed.
Delta girl, Ese Brumeh who won a long jump gold medal for Nigeria at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, is to also listed to see if she could  emulate her mentor, Okagbare in the long jump pit in Beijing albeit hr form has been rather indifferent this season. 
Doreen Amata has her another chance at the Worlds again with her inclusion on the list for the women’s high jump.
Amaka Ogoegbunam (400m Hurdles), Lindsay Weyimi Lindsey (100m Hurdles), Chinwe Okoro (Discus) and Uhunoma Naomi Osazuwa (Hepthatlon) completed the list of 18 women on the Team Nigeria list for the Worlds.
The five male athletes listed for the Worlds in Beijing include; Ogho-Oghene Egwero (100m), Peter Tega Odele (200m), Tyron Atkins (110m Hurdles), Miles Ukaoma (400m Hurdles) and former Commonwealth Games triple jump champion, Tosin Oke.
Former American Olympic sprint gold medalist, Maurice Greene, Gabriel Okon, Yusuf Alli and  Solomon Aliyu are part of the consortium of coaches for Team Nigeria at the Championships.