Nigeria Content Online

Tiger Woods again came up short in his fourth attempt at winning
the HSBC Champions over the weekend but his trip to Shanghai could still have a
silver lining in the shape of new sponsorship deals in China.

The former world number one is open to new backers after several
main sponsors — including AT&T, Accenture and Gatorade — turned their
back on Team Tiger earlier this year following the damaging revelations about
his private life.

“We’re certainly considering Chinese companies as they are
certainly considering (me),” he told reporters during his hit-and-miss performance
at the $7 million WGC event.

“We’re looking at, and are considering all opportunities as we
always do. That hasn’t changed.

“It’s just a matter of finding the right fit and believing in
the company and making sure that I can help them and we see eye-to-eye in that
regard,” he added.

Woods appeared to be on a charm offensive in Shanghai after his
former clean-cut image in the family-orientated country was tainted by
headlines about his extra marital affairs.

He made an effort to sign autographs over the four-day
tournament and to interact with the thousands who turned out to see if the
14-times major winner could regain the top ranking a week after being deposed
by Briton Lee Westwood.

Many fans were also hoping the American would come full circle
in Shanghai and end his annus horribilis, which started a fortnight after he
imploded in a final-round duel with Phil Mickelson at the Sheshan Golf Course.

Tiger’s Mojo

“It seemed clear to me Tiger had lost what the Chinese call
‘Tien Ming’, his ‘Heaven Luck’, or his mojo,” American golf writer Peter
Andreas told Reuters.

“Then, two weeks later, his world exploded. And now, despite
flashes of brilliance,

Tiger no longer sustains ‘play the zone’, or goes low,” added
the author of ‘The Secret of the Inner-Swing: Golf Qi-Gong’.

Woods, who finished with a share of sixth, seemed to be aware he
had lost much “face” in conservative China and was keen to inform Chinese
reporters how he “works each and every day on prayers and meditation.” The mood
of the former world one, however, oscillated both on and off the course over
the weekend.

Woods was seen sporadically swearing and kicking his clubs after
poor shots and skipped a news conference after a poor second round.

“I’d follow Tiger if he was still winning. He’s a bit old,
though. I think the younger players are better. I’m following Rory Mcllroy,”
nine-year-old Joshua Liu from Shanghai told Reuters.

Pull quote – We’re certainly considering Chinese companies as they are
certainly considering me

The
local organising committee for the annual Obudu International Mountain
Race has confirmed 69 foreign athletes and 122 local athletes for the
6th edition of the race which holds later this month at the Obudu Ranch
Resort in Obudu, Cross River state.

Top on the list of
athletes confirmed for the November 27 race are the women’s defending
champion, Mamitu Daska from Ethiopia; reigning World Mountain running
champion, Andrea Mayr of Austria who won the women’s title in 2008; and
another former champion, Rehima Kedir of Ethiopia.

Also confirmed for the race is the reigning European mountain running champion, Ahmet Arslan of Turkey.

William Archibong,
chairman of the LOC for the race revealed at the weekend in Calabar
that registration for the event has also been closed except for African
countries wishing to participate in the second African Nations Mountain
Running championship, which will take place alongside the Obudu
international mountain race on November 27.

Pruning to get the best

“Registration for
the 6th Obudu international mountain race has closed. We have been able
to register 122 local athletes and 69 foreign athletes out of the over
1,500 entries we received,” said Archibong.

“It was not easy
to prune the number down to 69 for the foreign athletes but we had to
do it because we wanted a number we can conveniently cope with bearing
in mind that registration for the African Nations mountain running
championships is still on with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria,” he
said adding that the LOC registered the best mountain runners in the
world for the race.

“The cast we will
have in Obudu come November 27 is the best you can find in any mountain
race anywhere in the world. This is not just the highest paying
mountain race in the world, it is also one where the quality of
participants is unrivalled.”

The race

The Obudu Mountain
Race covers a distance of 11 kilometres uphill, to an altitude of 1,575
metres above sea level. The Race is the highest paying Mountain Race in
the world, with star prize of $50,000 for both men and women.

Champions
and Premier League leaders, Chelsea, suffered their second defeat of
the season as Fernando Torres scored twice to guide resurgent Liverpool
to a deserved 2-0 victory at Anfield on Sunday.

The Spaniard was
back to his predatory best with two well-taken goals in the first half,
inspiring Liverpool to their best performance of the season and their
third successive league win. Arsenal failed to take advantage of the
leaders’ slip, however, as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Newcastle
United courtesy of Andy Carroll’s header at the end of the first half.
Manchester City did gain ground, with Italian striker Mario Balotelli,
scoring both goals in a comfortable 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion,
before being sent off in the second half.

The results
squeezed the top of the standings with Chelsea still top on 25 points,
two ahead of Manchester United, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on
Saturday. Arsenal and Man City have 20, with Newcastle up to fifth on
17 points. Liverpool, in the bottom three a week ago, jumped to ninth
on 15. Arsenal suffered their second home defeat by a promoted side
this season when they were beaten 1-0 by a Newcastle United team who
climbed into the Premier League’s top four on the back of their victory
on Sunday. Andy Carroll headed the only goal at the end of the first
half to give Newcastle their third successive win. Arsenal, beaten by
Shakhtar Donetsk in their midweek Champions League game, quickly
imposed their usual dominance with some neat passing in midfield. Cesc
Fabregas hit the bar with a deflected free kick after 13 minutes, while
Newcastle keeper Tim Krul made a great one-handed save to keep out a
Samir Nasri shot after 39.

Different proposition

However, Newcastle,
on a high after last week’s 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland, were a very
different proposition both in personnel and attitude than that on show
when they were beaten 4-0 at home by Arsenal in the League Cup last
month. Arsenal goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski, had been a virtual
spectator but when he was called into action in the last minute of the
first half he needlessly tried to punch a Kevin Nolan free kick box but
was out jumped by Carroll whose header looped into the empty net.
Arsenal resumed their territorial control in the second half with Theo
Walcott rattling the bar again soon after the restart. However,
Newcastle worked tirelessly to keep them at long range and the home
threat gradually petered out.

Arsenal’s bad day was completed when defender Laurent Koscielny was
shown a straight red card for a last-man foul on substitute Nile Ranger
in stoppage time. “These are big weeks for us and what we have is a
group of players who are all in this together fighting together,
supporting each other and I think that showed in the performance,”
Newcastle manager Chris Hughton told Sky Sports. Captain Nolan, who
scored a hat-trick against Sunderland, added: “We were quite confident
we would come here and get a result and I felt we could win. It’s just
fantastic to come here against such a great footballing side and get a
great result.”

Nigeria’s
Super Falcons yesterday continued their march to re-capture the title
they lost in 2008 to Equatorial Guinea. The Falcons faced the Twiga
Stars of Tanzania with a chance to cement top spot in the group. And it
was another great performance from Perpetua Nkwocha as she confirmed
the Nigerian team’s superiority and inched closer to achieving her
target of scoring 15 goals in the championship.

The match was
largely played in the half of the Twig Stars, who tried to defend their
goal with two banks of five players but Nigeria was on the front foot
as early as the first minute when Francisca Ordega was caught offside
marginally. A minute later, Ordega went on another rampaging run down
the left flank and earned a corner kick.

Two minutes later,
Nkwocha crossed from the right with Ebere Orji lurking to score. It
caused the goalkeeper to panic and palm the ball across the goal. A
header from Ordega followed but it went wide.

The Falcons did not
play with a lot of imagination and wide players were squeezing into the
middle with Nkwocha dropping off the front to join a congested midfield.

Nkwocha’s sixth and seventh goals

But they got the
first goal in the 10th minute, when a cross by Ulunma Jerome was
squeezed into goal from a tight angle to give the Falcons the lead.
That was the sixth goal for master poacher, Nkwocha.

The match then
sparked to life and in the 21st minute, Jerome’s cross cum shot hit the
cross bar and out of play. The Tanzanian team were now really working
hard to deny the Falcons any more scoring chances.

Nonetheless,
Nkwocha scored the second goal of the match and her seventh in the 32nd
minute when a defensive error involving Twiga Stars’ captain Sophie
Mwaskili presented the Nigerian striker with a sight on goal – and she
duly converted the chance.

The Twiga Stars tried to cut the lead with long range shots but Precious Dede easily gathered the efforts.

The first half
should have ended with a third goal for the Falcons but Ordega was in
an offside position when she took the ball off Orji’s toes after she
had dribbled the keeper and was ready to score.

The second half was
very disjointed with the Stars raising their game through Aisha Sada,
who was changing from the right to the left flanks throughout the game.

The half witnessed
another barrage of shots from distance with Sada hitting the cross bar
in the 55th minute and Dede getting injured in the process of making
the save. Gloria Akpa came on for Jerome and Desire Oparanozie came in
for Nkwocha. The changes disrupted the Falcons game but the team
finally scored the third goal in the 82nd minute when a spilled shot by
the Tanzanian keeper was tapped in by Oparanozie – it was her first
goal of the championship.

In yesterday’s other match, South Africa walloped the Malian team
4-0 to join the Falcons in the semi-finals. Their likely opponents will
be defending champions, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, who have four
points each in Group B.

Osaze Odemwingie returned to action for the first time in over a
month when he came off the bench to feature for West Bromwich Albion in last
Sunday’s Premier League loss to Manchester City.

And his return couldn’t have been better timed as the Baggies
get set to prosecute two games over the next five days.

The last time the Nigerian international appeared for the
Baggies was in their 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers back at the start of
October but he picked a knee injury late in the tie and was subsequently
consigned to the treatment table.

As a result, he was withdrawn from international duty and missed
Nigeria’s 2012 Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea (which the Super Eagles
lost 1-0).

His combativeness and high work rate, which endeared him to fans
of the Super Eagles was undoubtedly missed in the game against the Guineans but
he was even more sorely missed by West Brom fans, who saw their darling Baggies
plummet down the Premier League table in the absence of their newly acquired
Nigerian striker.

The Baggies have won just one game since the former Lokomotiv
Moscow forward picked up the injury. In Odemwingie’s absence, the Baggies have
added four points from a possible 12.

Although they defeated Leicester City 4-1 in the League Cup,
their only win in the Premier League this past month arrived in their 2-1 home
win against Fulham. The victory came a week after their impressive 2-2 draw
with Manchester United at Old Trafford – a game that was actually their first
without their talismanic Nigerian.

In his absence, they suffered back to back losses to Blackpool
and Manchester City, and dropped from the impressive 6th position they occupied
at the end of the tie with Bolton to 10th.

West Ham and Wigan beckon

Up next for the Baggies is an away game on Wednesday against
bottom of the table West Ham and manager Roberto Di Matteo will love to play
Odemwingie from the start especially going by the impressive 30 minute
performance he churned out in the 2-0 loss to Manchester City where had it not
been for a fine save from City goalkeeper Joe Hart, the Nigerian would have
increased his Premier League goals tally to four from seven matches.

Another seemingly easy game for the Baggies will then come up on
Saturday against 18th placed Wigan. But just like the tie against the Hammers,
this will also be an away game.

With the current poor form of their hosts these games present an
opportunity for West Brom to improve their league fortunes.

That is why they will be glad to have Odemwingie back in their fold
especially with the memories of his man of the match performance against
Arsenal still fresh in the mind.

After an interesting season opener on Saturday between Kaduna
United and Kano Pillars at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium – a game that ended in a
1-1 draw, nine other matches came up on Sunday with a total of 18 goals scored.

The best viewing, as far as goals were concerned, was at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu where Rangers defeated visiting Lobi Stars 3-2.

Fred Okwara shot the home side into the lead in the 15th minute,
but 20 minutes later Kingsley Odoh restored parity for the visitors from
Makurdi with the first of his two goals on the evening.

Rangers however went into the half-time interval 2-1 up after
Ejike Uzoenyi, put them back in front with just a minute left on the clock. But
eight minutes after the restart, Odoh popped up yet again to draw Lobi Stars back
on level terms only for Brendan Ogbu to clinch a last gasp winner for the
Flying Antelopes in added time.

Gombe on top

The win shot Rangers to second spot on the league table behind
Gombe United, who ran out 2-0 winners over visiting Heartland of Owerri at the
Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi courtesy of second half strikes from the duo of
Rafiu Salawudeen and Ifeanyi Okoro.

It was not the sort of start new Super Eagles coach Samson
Siasia had wished for, heading into the encounter, but his counterpart, Bernard
Ogbe, was impressed with the display churned out by his Desert Scorpions.

“It was a really nice performance from the boys. I was impressed
especially with the way they kept fighting for every ball in the second half,”
said Ogbe. “Without taking anything away from Heartland, we deserved to win and
I look forward to a better performance in our next match.”

The game will come up on Saturday at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos,
against a JUTH side that played an impressive 1-1 draw against Sharks in Port
Harcourt courtesy of a goal in added time by the Jos side’s Ghanaian import
James Amankwei.

Sharks’ veteran forward, Victor Ezeji, had shot the home side
into the lead 15 minutes from the end.

Amankwei wasn’t the only Ghanaian to hit the back of the net in
the opening weekend of the Nigerian Premier League – his counterpart Owusu
Addae was on target for Dolphins of Port Harcourt in their 1-0 away win at
Plateau United.

At the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Shooting Stars defeated visiting
Sunshine Stars 2-1 courtesy of a brace from ex-Sunshine player Gbolahan Salami,
while John Chukwudi’s 35th minute goal was enough to see holders,

Enyimba overcome an Ocean Boys side inspired by some spectacular
goalkeeping heroics from former junior international Femi Thomas.

Emmanuel Omodiagbe was the star in Warri Wolves 1-0 win over
Kwara United while in Minna, Sule Adamu’s 15th minute strike earned maximum
points for Niger Tornadoes over visiting Crown.

The only game which failed to produce a goal was between Bukola Babes and
Zamfara United at the Offa Township Stadium.

The Super Falcons’ quest to reclaim the African title
relinquished two years ago in Equatorial Guinea will be put to test on Thursday
when the team confronts the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroun in the first semi
final match of the ongoing Africa Women’s Championships in South Africa.

While the Falcons secured their semi-final ticket by topping
Group A – having won their three group matches, Cameroun got their berth
yesterday after defeating Algeria 2-1 to finish as the second best team from
Group B. The Cameroonians will be hoping to break the jinx of having never
beaten the Falcons in the four times they met at the African Women
Championships since 1998.

The other semi final fixture also billed for Thursday will see
host, South Africa play defending champion, Equatorial Guinea.

Nigeria and Cameroun were both ousted at this stage of the
tournament in the last edition; while Nigeria was edged out by Equatorial 1-0;
Cameroun was pummelled 3-0 by South Africa.

The losers’ final for both teams was keenly contested ending 1-1
in regulation time before Nigeria nicked the third place spot after winning the
ensuing penalty kicks 4-3.

Only four members of the team that played against Cameroun last
time out are in the current Super Falcons team. Perpetua Nkwocha, who is one of
the quartet has hit superb form in South Africa netting seven goals in three
matches.

She scored a brace during the first half of the Super Falcon’s
last game against Tanzania’s Twiga Stars on Sunday to consolidate her position
as the tournament’s top goal scorer “I am looking forward to being the top
scorer at the end of this tournament.” Nkwocha who has set a target of 15 goals
for herself said.

Nkwocha was the tournament’s top scorer when South Africa hosted
the championship in 2004 with nine goals.

Falcons will get better

Bala Nikya, the Super Falcons’ assistant coach said the team
will put in a better performance than in their previous matches when they face
Cameroun in the semi-final on Thursday.

“I think the team is getting better going by the way the team
has been improving with every game”, Nikya said in a post-match interview with
reporters on Sunday after the Falcons dimmed Tanzania’s Twiga Stars 3-0 at the
Makhulong Stadium.

He said every member of the team had been improving and that
there was no cause for alarm no matter who they meet in the final stages of the
competition.

“The players have been improving and I can say the team overall
has been doing well, not minding today’s performance and result.

“We have been assessing them vis-à-vis what we have ahead of us,
and I can assure you that the players will get better and the team will do
better than this in the semi-finals.”

Apart from moving closer to winning the African crown, the prize awaiting
the finalists of this year’s championships will be the chance to represent
Africa at the 2011 FIFA women’s World Cup in Germany next year.

Lekan
Adeyemi, who coached the Nigerian team to the last FIDE World Chess
Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, will next month be in England
after he was selected to officiate at the annual Hastings International
Chess Congress.

Adeyemi, the only
FIDE Instructor in the west African sub-region, is the only African
invited to officiate at the annual chess tournament, which will come up
from December 27 and run till January 6, 2011.

In the letter of
invitation sent to Adeyemi by Stewart Reuben, the Director of Hastings
Premier Tournament, Rueben acknowledged the fact that Adeyemi remains
one of the few active international arbiters in Africa and will be at
Hastings as there was a need to ensure that all the continents are
fully represented at the 10-day event.

Adeyemi was the
venue manager of the chess event of the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja
and handled the country’s women’s team to win three gold medals at the
last All Africa Games held in Algeria in 2007.

The following year he led the women’s team to a bronze medal finish at the Chess Olympiad held in Dresden, Germany.

“I am really
delighted to be the first Nigerian arbiter to be selected to officiate
at the Hasting tournament and I promise to keep the flame burning
thought out the 10-day competition,” said Adeyemi.

The Hastings
International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes
place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year.

The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament.

Alongside the main event there is the challengers’ section, which is
open to all players, with the eventual winner earning an invitation to
take part in the following year’s Premier tournament.

The
10th edition of the All Africa Challenge Trophy (AACT) will officially
tee off today at the IBB Golf and Country Club, Abuja with Nigeria
aiming to end South Africa’s long reign as the continent’s top women’s
golfing nation.

South Africa have
won all previous nine editions of the biennial tournament and are
favourites yet again to triumph at the end of the championship, which
was first held in Harare, Zimbabwe back in 1992.

“We are optimistic
that we can dethrone South Africa,” Ngozi Osuhor, president of the
Ladies Golf Association of Nigeria said. “The South Africans are very
good but we believe playing in Abuja will give us an advantage that
might work in our favour.”

Flying Nigeria’s
flag at this year’s AACT are the quartet of Faith Okoh-Baya, Rachael
Danjuma, Amina Wilfred and Diana Okah, and they have been practising at
the tournament’s venue for over a month.

“We have done all
that we can to ensure that they prepare well and knowing the course
well might just be an advantage for us,” Osuhor said.

Seventeen expected

As many as 17
countries are expected at the AACT with a couple of them already in
Abuja for what is the most prestigious event for amateur women golfers
in the continent.

Besides the hosts
Nigeria, other countries expected to vie for top honours in Abuja
include Angola, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana and Malawi.

Also on the list are Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Senegal, Swaziland, Sierra Leone and defending champions South Africa.

The Kenyan team,
which has been in training for several weeks in Nairobi under the
tutelage of top Kenyan professional Rose Naliaka, arrived on Saturday
but without 12-year-old golf prodigy Naomi Walufa who picked up an
injury.

Tanzania, another
team expected for the AACT, left Dar es Salaam for Abuja yesterday.
Their counterparts from Botswana also departed for Nigeria yesterday
for the championship.

Botswana, will be
at the AACT with 15-year-old Ouname Mhotsha who has been playing golf
for seven years; the country is bidding to host the 2012 AACT
competition and will be using the opportunity of being in Abuja to make
their case.

“We have the
experience and necessary infrastructure to host a tournament of this
magnitude as we proved when we hosted a successful Zone VI tournament
recently,” said Tiny Kgatlwane, president of the Botswana Ladies Golf
Union.

The wife of the Nigerian president Patience Jonathan, and Dora
Akunyili, the Minister of Information, are expected to attend the
opening and closing ceremonies of the tournament. The All Africa
Challenge Trophy is sponsored by the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Coca-Cola
Nigeria, Sterling Bank, Eko Hotel among others.

The
General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor E.A
Adeboye has predicted better days ahead for sports in the country.

Adeboye who was
speaking at the special thanksgiving/prayer service for Nigerian Sports
held at the Headquarters of the church on Redemption Way, Ebute
Meta,Lagos revelled the good old days when Nigeria was first among
equals in the comity of sporting nations but rued her steady decline in
the past years.

“Once upon a time
Nigeria was a leading nation in sports, I remember a time when we use
to have world boxing champions from this country, when we have one of
the best footballers in the world; in the person of Thunder Balogun.
But now, our team which is originally called Super Eagles is now been
called Super Chickens by some people. I know if we cry unto God to
intervene, things will change for the better and the glory of the
country will be restored,” he said.

Present at the event, which was first of its kind, were former Internationals, Segun Odegbami, Peter Rufai, Gerrad
Njoku, Lagos State Football Boss, Taiwo Afinnih alongside former
National tennis coach, Babatunde Obisanya amongst others.

Tayo Oreweme, the
Liaison Officer for the National Sports commission office in Lagos, was
also on hand to represent the Sports Minster, Ibrahim Bio, who was
originally scheduled to attend the event.

Oreweme commended
the initiators of the programme while stating that minister was pleased
that the church was showing some concern for sporting matters in the
country.

Also speaking at the event, Odegbami said that given the dire straits Nigerian sports finds itself, divine intervention was clearly needed noting that the decision by the
church to pray for Nigerian sports meant that breakthrough is around
the corner.