Nigeria Content Online

Robin
Soderling signalled his intentions for the season-ending ATP World Tour
Finals when he claimed his maiden Masters title with a clinical 6-1 7-6
defeat of local favourite Gael Monfils in Paris on Sunday.

Fourth seed
Soderling was simply too good for Monfils and wrapped up a
straightforward victory by taking the second-set tiebreak 7-1.

His blend of raw
power and pace proved too much to handle for the Frenchman, who was
condemned to his second successive final defeat in Bercy.

Backed by a 14,500
capacity crowd, Monfils never discovered the touch that helped him to
knock out 16-times grand slam champion Roger Federer on Saturday.

Soderling showed no
weaknesses throughout the 77-minute encounter on the fast indoor court
as he picked up his sixth ATP title just before heading to London,
where the ATP Finals will be played from November 21 at the O2 Arena.

“I think I played
very good last week, and this week, too, on a surface that’s pretty
similar to what it’s gonna be in London,” Soderling told reporters.

” “Of course
winning matches against a lot of good players this week gives me a lot
of confidence,” added the 26-year-old, who will rise to fourth in the
ATP rankings on Monday.

Leap forward

“Playing in any
Masters, when you play the top players of the world, every match can be
a grand slam final. I think you need to believe in yourself, and I
think that can make a big change.

“I’m feeling really
good right now, and I’m gonna have one or two days of rest and prepare
for London.” Monfils handed Soderling a break in the fourth game when
he fluffed a routine volley and the Swede followed up on serve to open
a 4-1 lead.

He kept the
pressure on Monfils and snatched the Frenchman’s serve again with a
superb crosscourt passing shot before bagging the opening set with a
forehand winner after 26 minutes.

Soderling, whose
career took a huge leap forward after he reached the French Open final
for the first time last year, did not face a single break point in the
one-sided contest.

Monfils tried to
keep pace in the second set as Soderling’s first serve percentage
dropped but the Swede got his act together in the tiebreak and finished
it off at the net, falling on his back in celebration.

“It was a very emotional week, I learnt a lot and I will continue to learn,” Monfils told a courtside interviewer.

“I am very, very disappointed. I hope I will be in the final again next year.” Soderling,

runner-up at the last two French Opens to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, offered some words of consolation.

“Congratulations to Gael, he beat Roger Federer and I know how
difficult it is to beat him. I know how tough it is to lose two finals
in a row, especially in Paris. Now I have two favorite tournaments,
Roland Garros and here,” said Soderling.

The
dust has settled, the racing cars are parked, and Sebastian Vettel of
Red Bull Racing team is in the history books as the youngest Formula
One world champion ever.

Vettel was five
points and eight points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso of
Ferrari and his own team-mate Mark Webber, respectively in the
standings. But, after gaining pole position on Saturday evening Vettel
never had to look back.

While the progress
of Webber and Alonso were hampered by an early pit stop which left them
behind slower cars, Vettel led for the whole race to take victory and
the world title.

Dietrich
Mateschitz, was there to see the man he and the Red Bull team had
nurtured from a boy in karting to become the best driver of 2010.

“It’s an
unbelievable outcome. Vettel has had some tough times and he’s had his
issues with reliability, but he’s never lost his focus. He’s the
youngest ever Formula One World Champion and a very deserving one,” Red
Bull Principal, Christian Horner said after the race.

“We mustn’t forget
Mark (Webber) in all this and what an incredible job he’s done this
year. He’s driven superbly well. It could have gone to either one of
them this year and it’s a great privilege to have these two guys in our
team. I’d like to thank every single member, all our suppliers,
everyone at Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz for his unfaltering
support. It’s been a very, very big week.”

But there will not be much time to be jubilant and partying as
testing for the 2011 campaign starts this week in Abu Dhabi, the scene
of Vettel’s unforgettable experience.

Tiger
Woods provided the large galleries at the Victoria Golf Club something
to remember as he shot his equal-best round of the year, a
six-under-par 65, at the Australian Masters on Sunday.

The 34-year-old
American, who was reportedly paid a $3 million appearance fee,produced
some fireworks down the stretch, highlighted by an eagle two on the
par-four 15th, a birdie on the par-five 17th and an eagle three on the
par-five 18th to finish on seven-under 277.

After entering the
final round 10 shots behind leader Adam Bland he walked off just three
shots behind the Australian and with a sniff of victory should Bland or
then second-placed Daniel Gaunt succumb to the pressure.

As it turned out,
Australian Stuart Appleby trumped Woods by also shooting a six-under 65
to overtake the faltering Bland and Gaunt in the closing holes to win
by a single shot.

Woods,who finished
fourth, last won a title when he claimed the gold jacket at nearby
Kingston Heath on Melbourne’s sandbelt a year ago, shortly before
stories about his personal life developed into a storm that wrecked his
marriage, tarnished his clean-cut image and caused him to take a break
from golf.He has also modified his swing in an effort to improve his
game and take pressure off his surgically repaired left knee and on
Sunday after his explosive finish he said he felt he was slowly
beginning to see signs of improvement.

“I can do this in
streaks, unfortunately I haven’t done it for an entire round yet,” he
told reporters. “That’s one of the things when you’re making changes in
the game, it takes time.

“I’m pleased with
some of the progress I’ve made because the streaks are now lasting
longer but I still need to do it for an entire round. I still need to
do it for 72 holes.

“I finally got it going at the end but it was too little too late.”

Premier
League outfit, Niger Tornadoes of Minna have become the first club to
be fined by the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) in the 2010/2011 season.
They were penalised after two of their goalkeepers wore unauthorised
apparels in last weekend’s 1-2 loss to Heartland in Owerri.

Instead of wearing
their team jerseys, the goalkeepers, Okiki Tawose and Timothy
Unachukwu, wore the Nigerian national team’s goalkeeping outfit,
complete with the insignia of the Nigeria Football Federation in the
encounter played at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri.

The act is a direct
violation of the NPL’s Article 1.6 (1) of this season’s rules and
regulations, and as a result Niger Tornadoes have been fined a million
naira for deliberately infringing on the rules governing the league.

“The Nigeria
Premier League has fined Niger Tornadoes FC the sum of one million
naira only for their first and second goalkeepers for wearing national
team jerseys in a week two match involving Heartland FC Vs Niger
Tornadoes FC thereby violating Article 1.6 (1) of the rules and
regulations.

“The two Niger
Tornadoes goalkeepers are Okiki Tawose and Timothy Unachukwu,” read the
NPL statement signed by its acting executive secretary, Tunji Babalola.

In past seasons, it
was almost customary for goalkeepers, especially those who have at some
point been called up to the national team, to don such kits on match
days rather than their club colours.

But with the fine
imposed on Niger Tornadoes by the NPL it is expected that clubs will
henceforth enforce their goalkeepers to stick to club colours on match
days.

Meanwhile, the NPL has rescheduled the 10 league matches earlier billed to come up on Wednesday for this weekend.

The
newly crowned champions of Africa, Super Falcons, returned home
yesterday afternoon to a rapturous reception at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Lagos.

Hundreds of
well-wishers, most of who had been at the airport hours before the
team’s arrival from Johannesburb, jubilated and cheered the team.

The Falcons had
done the country proud by winning the 7th edition of the African
Women’s Championship (AWC) on the back of five straight victories over
Mali, South Africa, Tanzania, Cameroon and defending champions
Equatorial Guinea.

Moments after their
arrival, they were paraded in an open-top trailer before being taken to
the domestic wing of the airport from where they boarded an Arik Air
aircraft to Abuja for a reception – organised by the federal government.

The presidency
commended the Falcons for not only reclaiming the African Women
Championship title they failed to defend at the 2008 tournament in
Equatorial Guinea, but for also qualifying for the 2011 FIFA Women’s
World Cup scheduled to hold in Germany in June.

Up next, Germany

Ahead of the World
Cup, which will be Nigeria’s sixth successive appearance. As part of
preparations, the Super Falcons will play an international friendly
against Germany on November 25. Because of the match, the team is
expected to resume training this weekend after observing a few days of
rest.

“I think that the
friendly is very close,” Eucharia Uche, the team’s coach told reporters
in Lagos. “As soon as we finish celebrating we will gather together for
that game.

“The World Cup is
different from the AWC. It is a bigger tournament and we intend to
prepare well for it.” The game against the Germans will take place in
the city of Leverkusen and will see the newly crowned African champions
testing their might against the winners of the last two editions of the
FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Perpetua Nkwocha,
the leading goal scorer at the AWC, is happy about the fixture and she
called on the Nigeria Football Federation to organise more of such
games for the team.

“The NFF must organise many friendly games for us, not against African teams but against European teams.

“I think they are
planning to do that because this month we are going to play Germany,”
said the Sweden-based forward when asked what was needed to help the
team prepare for the World Cup.

Official airline congratulates the team

Arik Air, the
airline that flew the team home, also joined millions of Nigerians in
congratulating the Super Falcons on their victory over Equatorial
Guinea in Sunday’s AWC final.

The airline’s
Managing Director/Executive Vice President, Chris Ndulue echoed the
sentiments of many in Nigeria by saying: “Congratulations to the Super
Falcons from all of us at Arik Air, in reclaiming the African title
they lost to Equatorial Guinea two years ago and on becoming six-time
champions of Africa.” Ndulue said Arik Air is happy to be identified
with the team having had the honour of flying the team to and from
South Africa.

It’s not the first time Arik Air will be flying the national team to or from a major championship.

In May this year, prior to the commencement of the World Cup, the
airline stepped in to fly the Super Eagles from London to Durban, South
Africa, after the prearranged chartered flight for the team could not
operate.

Twelve years after
playing at the maiden edition of the African Women’s Championship (AWC)
in Abeokuta, Nigeria, where the Super Falcons won their first African
title, veteran winger, Stella Mabchu has continued to wax stronger. The
32-year-old capped her wonderful performances over the years with the
Most Valuable Player Award of the just concluded AWC in South Africa.

It was the first
time Mbachu would be recognised as such at any AWC but it wasn’t her
first time of being a member of a championship winning side. In fact, it
was the sixth time Mbachu would be winning a gold medal at the AWC.

She has been a
member of every Nigerian side that has won the African title since 1998
and has taken part in every tournament except for the 2008 tournament in
Equatorial Guinea where the Super Falcons lost out in the semi finals
to the Equatoguineans.

Back in 1998, the then 20-year-old Mbachu played second fiddle to Patience Avre on the right side of the midfield for team.

But her speed both
on and off the ball, as well as her good dribbling skills, were not to
be ignored by the team’s coach Ismaila Mabo, and he duly rewarded the
youngster with a place in the team for the final match against Ghana’s
Black Queens where she rewarded the coach with a goal.

She sealed her place in the team after her performance at that year’s Africa World Championship.

Mbachu went on to
feature at three Olympic Games, the All Africa Games, as well as the
last three editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. With her current form
she is likely to make it to Germany in June next year for her fourth
World Cup appearance.

Mbachu currently plays her football in China for top division side Tianjin Teda.

The Central Bank of
Nigeria has failed the “stress test” of Unity Bank losing 3-2 to Unity
Stars F/C in their Semi-Final encounter at the on-going CBN Governor’s
Cup. The tournament is for financial institutions the country.

The game, which was
played at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, was one of the toughest
since the tournament began penultimate week.

Two first half
strikes from Ibrahim Hamisu and Skipper Ibrahim Yakubu put the lemon
green Unity Stars in the driving seat. Fifteen minutes into the game,
Unity’s phenomenal Tukur Abdullahi dribbled his way to the right flank
and and sent in a cross, which Hamisu converted to raise the curtains.

CBN tried to respond
but Unity’s midfield manned by Hamisu and Sunday Moses resisted the
onslaught, and combined well with their defence which was commanded by
the towering Ibrahim Yakubu to give their goalkeeper Henry enough cover.

Unity Stars’ second
goal came following another ‘draft’ display initiated by centre half
Jamilu, who located Sunday Moses in the middle.

Sunday interchanged
passes with Hamisu before locating Abdullahi who weaved in between the
CBN defence and confronted CBN’s goalkeeper before he was tackled from
behind to earn a penalty.

Captain Ibrahim then sent the goalkeeper to the right and placed the ball to the left.

After the second
goal, with possession at 50-50, CBN changed their game plan and pushed
Unity to defend heavily. They were however halted with a counter attack
that put Abbas through. He raced down the right flank, and fired in the
third goal, deflected by a CBN defender into his own net.

Late scare

With Unity Stars
assuming that they had sealed the game, CBN took charge of the game,
mounting serious pressure on the Unity defence. The move paid off when
they earned a penalty, which they converted to make it 3-1. After the
penalty, they confined Unity to their half and won a corner kick which
they nodded home for their second goal.

Unity Stars however held on for the last 20 minutes to end the game 3-2.

The final game comes up at the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi on November
27, 2010 against Union Bank, who defeated the defending Champions, First
Bank, through penalty shootouts after the regulation time ended in 1-1.

Dolphins of Port
Harcourt have shot to the top of the Nigerian Premier League after
securing a 1-0 win over visiting Enugu Rangers last weekend at Port
Harcourt’s Liberation Stadium.

The win maintained
Dolphins’ good start to the season following penultimate weekend’s 1-0
win over Plateau United in Jos where Owusu Addae, the Port Harcourt
side’s Ghanaian import grabbed the game’s only goal.

That win in Jos was
the only away win of the opening weekend of the 2010/2011 season and
signalled the intention of the former league champions to battle for
honours this season. They followed it up with a win over the Flying
Antelopes on Saturday courtesy of an 82nd minute goal by former Nigerian
U-17 international Omo Ojabu.

Ojabu, an attacking
midfielder, came on as a substitute in the encounter and rewarded his
team’s manager Stanley Eguma with the match winning goal.

“I don’t single out
players for praise because football is all about teamwork,” Eguma told
NEXT. “The boys did very well on Saturday and I look forward to a much
improved performance in our next game against Sharks.”

That game will be
against city rivals Sharks who played a 1-1 draw in Jalingo against Lobi
Stars to follow up on their opening weekend 1-1 draw against JUTH in
Port Harcourt.

Victor Barnabas shot
Lobi Stars into the lead as early as the 10th minute but they failed to
extend their lead and eventually paid the price when Gomo Onduku
levelled the scores in the 67th minute much to the delight of the
neutrals at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo.

Lobi Stars are
playing their home games in neighbouring Taraba pending the approval of
the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi by the league organisers.

Gombe battle for draw in Jos

Gombe United who
were on top of the league table after the opening weekend, also came
from behind to pull off a 1-1 draw against JUTH at the Rwang Pam
Stadium.

The home side had
taken the lead two minutes into the second half through Ghanaian import
James Amankwei, for his second goal of the season after scoring in the
opening weekend draw against Sharks, only for Lazarus Chukwu to pull the
Desert Scorpions back on level terms 14 minutes later.

There was also another 1-1 draw at the Offa Township Stadium, where Kwara United took on Kaduna United.

New teenage signing
Barnabas Imenger, who arrived from the Ilorin based Kwara Football
Academy, put Kwara United ahead in the 41st minute, but less than a
quarter of an hour after the resumption of play in the second half,
Emmanuel Bivan grabbed the equalizer for the visitors.

One-all was also the
final score line at the Ilaro Stadium where Warri Wolves were 15
minutes away from recording an away win against newcomers, Crown FC
before they were rescued by Harrison Egbune’s scrambled goal.

Other results from
last weekend’s games saw defending champions Enyimba losing 2-1 in Ijebu
Ode to Sunshine Stars of Akure whose winning goal was scored by Onyi
Chiemeka. Credit must go to their goalkeeper, Henry Ayodele, for making a
series of good saves as Enyimba searched for an equaliser.

Shooting Stars
played an impressive 2-2 draw in Kano against Zamfara United while
Heartland held on to win 2-1 against visiting Niger Tornadoes in Owerri.

Ocean Boys played a 1-1 draw with Plateau United at the Samson Siasia
International Stadium, Yenegoa, while Kano Pillars defeated Bukola
Babes by a goal to record their first win of the season.

With
his dear country, Nigeria apparently heading off the tracks and her
“top” athletes no longer rated amongst the best, one of Nigeria’s
all-time greats, Innocent Egbunike, now coach in Qatar, offers a way out
of the steady decline facing the country’s athletics.

Speaking to
NEXTSports from his base in Doha, Egbunike said in the late 90s and
early 2000, Nigeria was losing her athletes to other countries but today
we are gradually losing them to drugs; a situation that highlights the
dearth of the sports once regarded as the pride of the country.

“Nigeria is at its
lowest ebb in track and field coupled with all the drug scandals
currently rocking the sport. This does not augur well for the Nigeria we
represented in our time. It saddens me to see what is going on, I
believe we need to invest in drug education, find out where and who
supplies them the drugs and establish a vision with long term training
programs,” he said.

Good old days

“We had like four
guys running under 10.10secs in the 90s and they were coached by mostly
Nigerians, we need to let go of the slogan that when it comes to Nigeria
“Charity begins abroad” and do like most nations and appreciate what we
have and support our people. I see changes, thank God for the hiring of
Samson Siasia, it tells me change is coming and soon we will change the
slogan to “charity will begin at home.” Egbunike considers himself
blessed to have won Nigeria’s first and only gold medal on the “Olympic
tracks”. He coached the Sydney 2000 4 x 400m men’s relay team, which was
not even ranked in the top 15 at that time, to first the silver medal
winning feat before later being handed the gold medal after it was
discovered that the America team spiced up their system with banned
substances.

“We have what it
takes to be the best, the problem is lack of vision by our
administrators, a lack of commitment in regards to establishing a
program, a lack of commitment in helping the athletes reach their goals,
lack of funding for track and field, lack of incentives; for example
promoting education, which was the core of my era, setting up standards
and having different categories of sponsorship for the athletes; these
are professional athletes and they need to be taken care of. Having been
exposed to a lot of programs of most of the countries that are doing
well, we need to establish a program that will befit us,” he said.

A cue from the past

Egbunike said the
country needs to go back and study the history of what worked in the
past, when Nigeria stood next to USA, Germany, and Britain and ahead of
some of the countries that are currently doing well now.

“We need to invest
in the athletes and in coaching; we have good coaches, but when last did
they go for any coaching education course? I remember when the excuse
used to be that we do not have qualified coaches, that was then but now
we have the likes of Tony Osheku currently coaching in Libya, Pat Itanyi
in the USA amongst others and these are well educated coaches that are
willing to give back to our great Nation,” said the man that was
christened ‘Innocent of Africa’ by President Arap Moi of Kenya in 1987.

“It is hurtful to
say, but I believe in speaking the truth, athletics seem to have
dwindled to its lowest level since the 1990’s. 1996 was good and I
believed it could only get better but unfortunately that has not been
the case.

I am not in a
position to judge any man or woman, but I think we need to study our
history so that it won’t continue to haunt us for the wrong reasons,” he
intoned.

According to Egbunike, what helped the athletes of his era was the hiring of coaches that competed at the highest level.

“We had Coach Lee Evans the then world record holder, and also getting the athletes before us involved in the scheme of things.

“Shame on us when
Nigeria hosted the African Games, they brought in athletes from other
African countries to do the medal presentation and did not invite their
old heroes. Where was the likes of the first African sprinter to run the
100m in 10s flat, Chidi Imoh, the 1984 4 x 400m team, the 2000 4 x 400m
team, 1992 4 x 100m team,” Egbunike queried? Success breeds success,
some of the athletes today do not even know who holds the African
record,” he continued.

The London 2012 Olympics

Looking ahead to the
London 2012 Olympics, Egbunike advised the athletics authorities to
hire a head coach with some experience and international exposure. He
said such an individual should be encouraged to perform maximally by
giving him a free hand to run the sport.

“By this I mean that
there should be non-interference (tribal, political or otherwise) in
his managing of the sport. Interference in sports by the administrators
is one of the major ills of this sport. I have been a part of different
national teams and I have come to know the reason for their successes.

I believe that for
us to succeed in the 2012 Olympic Games we need to earnestly start now.
This will also give the coaches an opportunity to prepare ahead of time
and help eliminate our athletes looking for short cuts”.

Offer from Nigeria

Asked if he will
consider an offer to leave his high paying job in oil-rich Qatar for
Nigeria, he said “For the love of Nigeria, it will be nice to give back
to a country which gave me a great pedestal from which to start my
blessed athletic career. I will make myself available by helping the
country to find and nurture talents which she has in abundance but has
not tapped into.

“I slept on the floor at the African Games in Nairobi, some of us
slept at the airport and from the airport straight to competitions, we
sweated, bled and hurt for our beloved nation and even turned down juicy
offers from other countries. But despite all that I suffered, I still
have the love of Nigeria in me, I am here in Qatar as a Coach because
they recognised my achievements as an athlete and a coach in the United
States and felt I have quite a lot to offer them. If Nigeria sees her
past athletes and coaches in the same light then we can move forward,”
he concluded.