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Women have been
playing football for well over a hundred years, long before the first
women’s World Cup took place in China in 1991. The introduction of
age-grade tournaments, first the U-20s in 2002 and then the U-17s in
2008, was meant to act as a breeding ground for young girls aspiring to
be stars.

But just as it has
happened and continues to happen in the men’s game, age cheats have
crept into women’s football and world football’s governing body, FIFA,
are not shying away from combating the menace as they have decided to
face it head-on ahead of this year’s U-17 World Cup taking place in
Trinidad and Tobago.

The device to be
used in this momentous age-detection exercise is known as the Magnetic
Resonance Imaging tests; otherwise known as the MRI scan, which when
applied on the bone, usually around the wrist area, work out the age of
a player.

MRI for women

It emerged last
week that FIFA had commenced tests aimed at ultimately ending
age-cheating in youth tournaments and had sent medical teams to
different parts of the world to conduct researches aimed at cracking
down on the menace.

An official of the
Zurich based organisation, Dr. Yacine Zerguini who was in Tanzania to
execute the exercise said: “MRI of the wrist is a simple, reliable,
valid and non-invasive method of age determination in young male
football players, and now FIFA wants to find out if the technique can
be used in women football.” Explaining how the study was conducted,
Zerguini said that by measuring the fusion of bones around the wrists
one will be able to determine whether a player is actually under 17,
adding that the fusion of bones normally takes place for people who are
above 17 years, which means if the fusion of bones has already taken
place in the player’s wrist, such a player must have passed that age.

Not for the first time

It won’t be the
first time FIFA will be attempting to combat age cheats with the MRI
scan as they had previously utilized most recently at last year’s FIFA
U-17 World Cup for boys in Nigeria, but to what degree of certainty can
the MRI scan work out the age of footballers? FIFA, at the end of the
U-17 tournament in Nigeria declared that no age cheats were discovered
through the tests that were randomly carried out on players over the
course of the tourney but there is enough reason to doubt the verdict
reached by the world body especially in the light of disclosures by
former international Adokie Amiesimaka that the captain of the Nigerian
team Fortune Chukwudi was much older than the age she claimed to be.

There were also
other instances such as the case of Deji Joel who after he was listed
among those who had initially failed the MRI scan carried out by the
Nigeria Football Federation on Golden Eaglets players prior to the
cadets’ tournament, ended up featuring at the tourney.

“No one has been
able to prove whether these teams cheat or not but it is not beneficial
in the end for anyone who does and I believe it’s one of the reasons
why an African side has been unable to win the World Cup, whether for
men or women,” said former Nigeria international Nduka Ugbade in a chat
with NEXTSports.

He then added:
“There are also other reasons why we haven’t done so well such as the
poor management of the sport by administrators but a lot of these
players pass their prime long before they get to play for the senior
team.”

South Africans protest

South Africa
recently lodged a protest to FIFA against Nigeria claiming that some
members of the Nigerian women’s U-17 team who had secured qualification
for the World Cup at South Africa’s expense had previously played in
matches at U-20 or U-23 level.

The petition did
not come as a surprise to many observers after the South African coach
Solly Lovengo, in the aftermath of his side’s 5-0 loss, claimed during
a post-match interview at the end of the first leg encounter in
Abeokuta that Nigeria had fielded a “mature team” against his girls.

Nigeria also won
the return leg encounter but with a less embarrassing 2-1 score line
and the South Africans were left with no choice but to lodge a protest
to FIFA.

FIFA however threw
out their protest. “Their protest had no basis because our team was
made up of young players. Had they been older it would have been a
different scenario,” said NFF secretary general Bolaji Ojo-Oba.

Prime suspects

But the root of
this syndrome can be traced to the desire to win at all costs by
coaches and countries, as well as parents desirous of saying goodbye to
poverty; parents who will go to any length to falsify the age of their
children and wards.

And as this trend
is inherent in a society where dishonesty pays; a society smeared by
dubious ethical standards, it comes as no surprise that countries from
Africa, Asia and South America are always the prime suspects.

“Poverty is what
drives players to cheat,” remarked Ojo-Oba. “Coming from poor
backgrounds, cheating is the only option left for them as that is the
only way they believe can take them away from poverty.

“In the past it was
difficult to determine the true ages of players because we could only
depend on their birth certificates, but with the MRI scan we can at
least be certain of the age of those that will be representing us,” he
added.

Sports minister
Ibrahim Bio recently made it mandatory for all athletes representing
the country at age-grade events to undergo a mandatory age verification
test and the NFF will be following this directive to the letter,
according to Ojo-Oba.

This means every
member of the U-17 women’s team will be subjected to an age
verification test before the final list of players gets sent to FIFA.

And should that be
the case, and there is no reason to believe the reverse will be the
case, then there should be no cause for alarm as Nigeria’s reputation
will not be thrown in the mud. But should the watching world expect a
scandal at the U-17 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago from any of the
other countries that will be competing at the tourney?

One can only wait and see whether FIFA’s aim of setting up a
separate championship for teenagers which, by the way, is to develop
players and expose them to top flight football at a young age, will be
achieved by the end of the championship on September 25, 2010.

Ranked 101 in the
world; France based Segun Toriola alongside Funke Oshinaike would carry
the faint hopes of Nigeria on their shoulders as the country begins her
quest for honours in the World Team Table Tennis Championships today in
Moscow, Russia.

Ten players will be
representing the country at the week -long event which runs through 23
May -30 May with seventy one other countries grouped into three
categories billed to compete.

The team list

The male players
are Segun Toriola and Monday Merotohun who are both based in France
alongside the duo of Seun Ajetumobi and Bode Abiodun who both ply their
trade in Portugal while home-based Aruna Quadri completes the list.

While for the
female players; Funke Oshonaike who plays in Germany leads the trail
alongside home-based Ganiat Ogundele, Janet Offiong, Atinuke Olaide and
Edem Offiong.

Playing in the
second division, the men’s team would be up against Scotland in their
first match later today, while the women’s team which is grouped in the
third division faces Kazakhstan.

Segun Oguntade,
Secretary, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) explained that the
choice of players was carefully arrived at pointing out that the
players were picked solely on merit.

“They were selected
based on their current form. We monitor their recent performances
through the website in addition to their past records,’’ he said
According to Oguntade, the home -based players had been on intensive
training in Ibadan for the championship for quite a while as the
federation seeks a respectable performance from the country’s
representatives to the tourney.

Players’ Optimism

Speaking to
NEXTSports before the team’s departure, the only home-based male player
in the team; Aruna Quadri who plays for the Union Bank table tennis
team expressed readiness to do well at the event pointing out that he
is gradually gathering the confidence needed to perform creditably well
at the big stage.

“I know I have been
improving in my game, I have had the chance to attend some competitions
recently and I have learnt new things each time I play, by the grace of
God I would not disappoint the country” he said.

Quadri is currently
ranked 282 in the World and has showed some promise when he stunned the
continent beating his more experienced compatriot, Segun Toriola, and
the Egyptian duo of Ahmed Saleh and Lashin Al-Fayed to win the African
Singles Cup last year in Morocco.

This earned him
Africa’s sole ticket to the 2009 ITTF Men’s World Cup in Moscow, Russia
where he finished second in the maiden Intercontinental Cup.

For him the feat is still achievable even though admitting that it won’t be an easy task.

Meanwhile Ganiat
Ogundele who is also on the trip to Russia shares Quadri’s optimism as
she also believes she and her team mates can perform well in Russia.

“We know we need to
be focused in each game and work very hard to get the results we need,
we would put in our best and we hope that it would be good enough” she
said.

Ogundele had a
torrid season last year with the climax being her surrendering the
Asoju Oba title that she has won six times. She was ousted in the
quarter finals.

However Oguntade
has also expressed confidence that the team would do well in Moscow
based on their level of preparation, exposure and performances.

“Some of them
participated in Pro-Club Tour Qatar and German Open and with the recent
participations in the opens, they will stand out among other countries
at the tournament,’’ he said.

Six officials,
including the federation’s President, Abdulwahab Omotose and Abolarin
Tinuoye, the physiotherapist alongside coaches Ndem Richard, Akoja
Oluwole and Sunmola Lateef accompanied the players to Russia.

Every MTN/Kano
International Polo Tournament has a distinctive atmosphere, but this
year’s edition seems even more special than usual.

With sponsorship
topped by MTN’s N15m and others from Dantata Organizations, Dangote
Group of Companies, BUA and other blue chip firms, this year’s edition
almost certainly will surely be one to be remembered for a long time to
come.

According to the
Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of MTN Nigeria, Bola Akingbade,
this year’s tournament will be memorable one in many ways. One of which
he said, is the fact that over forty-four top Polo teams from all major
polo clubs across the country have been confirmed for this year’s
International polo extravaganza galloping-off on May 29. He said: “With
the solid backing of MTN, the Kano Polo tournament has become
increasingly popular by the day. And in line with our position as an
organization which seeks to support the distinct lifestyle of its
various customers, we have put everything in place to make this year’s
edition one of the most memorable in years,” he said.

Akingbade said one
of the highlights of this year’s tournament is the ‘MTN Innovation
Day,’ which is a grand exhibition to showcase various life-enriching
innovative products and services, specifically designed to enhance the
life and business performance of the northern elite.

The ambitious teams
dominated by arch rivals and un-respecting new comers will compete for
honours in the four Nigeria Polo Association regulation cups and a
handful of special awards to go with them.

The major prizes
that traditionally set the tournament agog with excitements include the
glittering and highly sought-after Emir of Katsina Cup that has the
invincible Mohammed Babangida as the undefeated champions.

El-Amin favoured
EL-Amin are favoured to extend their winning run in the event’s biggest
reward against the never say die, Katsina Hajara Farms powered by
Bashir Yar’Adua and last year’s runners-up, Lagos Rubicon who have
vowed to end decades of Kaduna stranglehold on the event.

With the quartet of
Muktar Adama, Bello Buba, Ibrahim Mohammed and their big boss, Mohammed
Babangida on parade, all the smart bets are staked heavily in their
favour to extend their intimidating Kano record, but Hadi Sirika-led
Rubicon boasting Bashir Dantata, Jamilu Mohammed and Mamuda Shehu in
his line-up believes he would have the last laugh.

The other major
prize that is guaranteed to provide the electricity that would send
sparks flying in all directions, is the event’s second most wanted
trophy, the Dantata Cup, which attracts seven teams from Lagos, Kaduna
and Katsina, host Kano and possibly Ibadan to complete the fray.

Each team comes
with a distinct character and capability. Hosts Kano, which watched
from the sideline as Katsina Masanawa stole the Dantata Cup show last
year, has asked their teeming fans to prepare for the celebration of
their lives as Kano teams are set for another Dantata Cup victory this
year.

Kano, Kaduna favoured

Predictably, both
Kaduna and Kano teams have been rated joint – favourites for the
Dantata Cup, but last year’s surprised winners from Katsina are saying
very little and discerning pundits believe Masanawa has both the horse
power and the players to retain the Dantata crown.

Over a dozen
equally matched teams would be up against one another as they rough it
out in the unpredictable Dangote Cup glory. As in the Dantata cup,
competition here will be quite intractable to pick out early favourites
in this intermediate goal category.

Both Kaduna and
hosts, Kano with the highest number of entries and teamed by their
hottest low handicap players post the shortest odds for the cup. Teams
from Lagos, Bauchi, Port Harcourt and Yola are expected to give the
favourites a good run for their money.

Defending champions

Kaduna Keffi Ponies
still hold the ace after winning the Dangote title on first attempt
last year. Wadada and his boy enjoy the MTN polo glory and are not in
any hurry to loss their prizes title.

The low goal Audu
Bako Cup that completes the line-up of the major MTN polo prizes at
stake in Kano has the entire recipe for a war of attrition.

Last year, Ahmed
Dasuki’s Oho polo team produced a stunning performance, beating better
rated oppositions to clinch the prize played in memory of the late
governor of Kano State.

Most of the
promising teenagers who were playing their first major tournament
showed why they are students of the famed OHO Sport Academy. Their
performance displayed the depth of Nigerian polo.

A record seventeen
fairly matched teams and enough rookies to confuse the most eagle eyed
pundit, have entered for the Audu Bako Cup rumble this year and all
their games would be decided at the foremost Race Course in Kano.

It could all remain
muddled up until the very last stages but aficionados have been tipping
Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Bauchi and Yola teams for their obvious
experience and mix of determination and horsepower. But that is not to
underestimate the anticipated vigorous challenge from Minna, Jos, Zaria
and Katsina.

Many who know
football well will consider Greece as outsiders at the 2010 World Cup
in South Africa, but the Super Eagles of Nigeria must not be part of
this group. That will be because of their German coach, Otto Rehhagel.
In the only previous encounter at the 1994 World Cup, the Eagles beat
the Greeks 2-0, to finish top of the group. The Greek side finished the
tournament with no points and no goal scored. That record was abysmal
but will not be repeated by the 2010 side led by the wily old fox, Otto
Rehhagel at the tail-end of his enviable career.

The Greek gift Otto
Rehhagel became the coach of Greece in 2001 and not much was expected
of the German tactician with the Greek national side that had qualified
for the European Cup and the World Cup just once in their history. He
was a Bundesliga veteran with varying degrees of exploits with his
various clubs but his most outstanding and compelling character trait
had always been his doggedness. That showed up in the Greeks as his
influence began to show on the team. They qualified for Euro 2004,
where they beat Portugal twice, France and the Czech Republic on the
way to lifting the cup.

There were no stars
in his team but despite that slight handicap, the Greek team won the
championship, conceding no goals in the knock-out stage.

His approach was a
defensive network of all players behind the ball and strict adherence
to using spot kicks to get goals. The score-line of 1-0 was the most
constant with which the Greek side won matches.

At that time
Rehhagel said: “No one should forget that a coach adapts the tactics to
the characteristics of the available players. But no one should make
the mistake of labelling Rehhagel as a defensive coach because in his
time as Werder Bremen coach, they played quality and attractive
attacking football that was a delight to watch.

Qualifying for South Africa 2010

Greece picked up
three consecutive victories over Luxembourg, Latvia and Moldova,
scoring eight times and conceding none in the process. They lost twice
to Switzerland which ultimately landed them in the second position and
a playoff berth against Ukraine.

Rehhagel and his
team beat Ukraine in a two-legged play-off. After drawing 0-0 in
Athens, no one gave them a chance in Ukraine but they surprised the
world and their hosts with a hard won 1-0 win in Donetsk with the
decisive goal coming from Dimitrios Salpingidis.

The Rehhagel factor at South Africa 2010

Otto Rehhagel has
turned Greece into a rigorous defensive unit, usually adopting a rigid
4-5-1 or even a 5-4-1 formation with huge emphasis on set-pieces. Their
success at the Euros was partly due to Rehhagel deploying an
old-fashioned man-marking system with a sweeper which most teams had
forgotten how to play against. That was a surprise wand to winning the
Euro 2004 edition to many but immediately teams got a hang of it, it
lost its magic. They failed to qualify for the 2008 European
Championships but a fall back on the 2004 set of players has brought
Greece to the 2010 World Cup.

What you will get
in abundance with Rehhagel’s team is loads and loads of experience. The
spine of the side, the goalkeeper, Konstantinos Chalkias is 36,
defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos of Liverpool is 30, midfielder cum talisman
for the side, captain Georgios Karagounis is 33 and top scorer for the
side in the World Cup qualifiers with 10 goals, Theofanis Gekas is 30.

Rehhagel
popularized the phrase kontrollierte Offensive (controlled offence)
where he stresses the importance of two big, strong headers in central
defence – Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Giourkas Seitaridis. Rehhagel likes
his defenders tall and robust, not given to too much football skills –
they will take no prisoners in their tackles.

There will be a lot of wing play as Gekas, the lone striker, is a good header of the ball.

So expect the team to always widen their approach as they get near the opponents goal area.

This Greek team
will play with a lot of patience from back to front and will be
deployed in an ultra-defensive formation with emphasis on closing all
avenues into their box and relying on free kicks and corner kicks to
hurt the opponent.

Finally, Rehhagel
is a good motivator and his teams usually display a lot of oneness and
fighting spirit. The Greek team will not be short of motivation coming
to South Africa as most of them will not be around for the 2014 edition
in Brazil so they want to go out with heads held high.

In a long and
distinguished career as both a player and coach, World Cup rookie coach
at 71 years old, Rehhagel has achieved a lot but his swan song could
yet be getting the Greeks into the second round of the World Cup. He is
a battle hardened general who will deploy his troops most effectively
and with that squad brimming with a lot of age and experience, they
know their limits and how to achieve it.

Greece will open
their World Cup campaign against Korea Republic on June 12 at the newly
built Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the name of the stadium reeks of
wisdom and age – a perfect combination for the Greeks.

It is now clear why Nigerian football is in such a mess.

It is now apparent
why, with less three weeks to the World Cup in South Africa, our
national team, the Super Eagles, have yet to play one international
friendly match to put the squad in shape for the Mundial.

While serious
minded leaders of other football federations whose teams will be taking
part in the World Cup have been firming up strategies to ensure
successful performance of their squads, our own Sani Lulu, president of
the Nigeria Football Federation, has been busy seeking and receiving
awards.

Last week, Lulu and
his henchmen; Amanze Uchegbulam, Taiwo Ogunjobi, and Bolaji Ojo-Oba
were in Benue to receive an award from the that state’s chapter of the
Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN).

There they were
reportedly given the Tiv’s traditional weapons of war, which as the
association put it, would be used “to go to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in
South Africa and conquer.”

Presiding over rot

It would have
sounded comical having an effete body like the Benue SWAN empowering an
equally lethargic quartet to go and conquer. But the situation on the
ground certainly does not permit laughter. And it is a situation that
Lulu and his men have created. The NFF president has contrived a
situation where Nigerian football has been dragged to the very nadir,
and has become the butt of jokes locally and internationally.

How has he done it?
Put simply, through mind-boggling incompetence. From the moment he took
office in 2007 till now, there has been zero progress in terms of the
development of football either at the grass roots or at the elite level
in the country. The senior national football team, the Super Eagles,
which he inherited from his predecessor, has gone from listless to near
moribund. It is thus no surprise that on the eve of the biggest global
football event, one that is taking place on our very own continent, the
faith of Nigerians in their national squad is almost nil.

From day one,
Lulu’s concern has been nothing other than taking steps to ensure that
he gets a second term as FA boss, and he has gone about it in quite a
brazen manner. The way he rushed through the amendment of the
federation’s statutes and some of the absurd provisions contained
therein speak of nothing but raw ambition. After he had craftily
manufactured ‘amendments’ to the statutes, he promptly forwarded them
to his patrons in FIFA as if that would put a seal of finality on his
return to the glass house.

Naked ambition

It is this naked
ambition of Lulu that has paralysed the activities of the NFF,
particularly its World Cup programme. Somehow, the NFF president has
managed to make an otherwise serious-minded professional like Lars
Lagerback, look like a rank amateur. Deep down, Lagerback must be
wondering what led him to do business with men like Lulu and
Uchegbulam. The only comfort he can derive from the whole sordid affair
is that he is been handsomely paid even to while away time.

It does not matter
to Lulu what Nigerian football fans who invest their time, money, and
emotions in the support of the Eagles think. Right now what gladdens
the heart of the NFF boss is that he has received the endorsement of
his lackeys in the South East, North West, North East, South West and
North Central zones. That is what is important to Lulu.

That Lagerback met
the bulk of his players for the first time two days ago in Abuja, means
nothing to Lulu. After all, the way he sees it, the development has no
direct bearing on his plans to return to office. Which is why he did
not feel a twinge of conscience that he chose for our national team’s
World cup base, a road side motel fit only for a budding amateur
football club.

But who can blame
Lulu? With fellows such as the ones in Benue who conferred an award on
him, and his cronies massaging his ego, how can he not think he is
doing good. Quite frankly, individuals like the ones in Benue SWAN give
journalists a bad name. How on earth can we be watchdogs and praise
singers in the same breath? Surely, things can’t get worse than this.

A few months ago,
specifically on September 28, 2009, the dreams of budding Nigerian
basketball player, Emmanuel Negedu, came crashing to earth after his
heart suddenly stopped beating and he collapsed while running at the
indoor football field of his school, the University of Tennessee (UT),
following a weightlifting and workout session.

The Kaduna born
player was, however, lucky as UT’s trainer, Chad Newman, and the
school’s director of sports medicine, Jason McVeigh, were both present
and, in an act of heroism, brought the 21-year-old back to life with
Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). He later underwent surgery to
have an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) implanted in his
chest to monitor his heart’s rhythm and deliver energy when an
irregularity occurs with strict orders not to do any strenuous activity
over the next three months.

“I’d go and watch
the guys practice and go to games and dress, seeing no reason why I
couldn’t be out there playing,” recalled Negedu, the youngest of eight
children, in an interview with American sports network, ESPN.

“I felt like my
life was gone. I was alive, but I was dead. I’m telling you that was
how I felt. I was dead. I was gone. I wasn’t here anymore. I was
breathing, but my life was taken away.”

Astonishingly, just
over seven months after his near-death experience, Negedu has returned
to the basketball courts to do what he loves best but it wasn’t at UT,
who didn’t want him in their basketball programme anymore or another of
his preferred institution, Indiana University, but rather at the
University of New Mexico (UNM), where he has been reunited with old
acquaintance and coach, Steve Alford.

Negedu informed The
Associated Press he has signed a scholarship offer to play with UNM’s
basketball team, and will enrol in classes in June even as he waits to
find out if he will receive a waiver from the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA), that will allow him to play in the 2010-11
college basketball season.

“I’ve got to do
what I’ve got to do,” said Negedu. “I want to chase my dreams to play
basketball. I want to do what makes me happy, and that’s what makes me
so happy.”

But opinion is
divided regarding the decision to allow the 6 feet 7 inches tall Negedu
to play college basketball, as those against it warn he stands the risk
of dying in action, even as those in favour say there is no evidence to
suggest that such a tragic fate is inevitable.

Back from the dead

“He essentially
died,” said UT’s assistant coach, Steve Forbes, in an interview with
ESPN. “I was there that day. I went to the hospital and the emergency
room. I slept there for two nights. I’ll never forget that. But I’m
going to be worried. At the end of the day, I’m comfortable with what
we did here.” So, too, was UNM
regarding their decision. UNM’s athletic director, Paul Krebs, said the
final call was left to the university’s cardiologist and medical team,
led by Dr. Chris McGrew.

“Our doctors looked
at all the records and cleared him to play,” Krebs said. “They talked
to the doctors at Indiana, too. Our doctors have fully vetted this.”
His coach at UNM, Alford, who personally called Dr. Larry Rink,
University of Indiana’s team physician and cardiologist, regarding the
matter, said: “If he had an enlarged heart, no one would have cleared
Emmanuel.

“But he has no
issues. The stress test Indiana put him on he cleared amazingly. The
cardiologists felt there was no reason not to clear him.

“That doesn’t mean
there isn’t a risk to be aware of. He has a defibrillator, so you have
to be alert and the coaches should know CPR. Everybody knows the
potential risks. But once he was cleared, the athletic director,
myself, and the president all signed off on it. Dr. Rink told me there
is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to play.”

A thorough
examination revealed that there was nothing structurally wrong with
Negedu’s heart, confirming what the big forward already knew.

“Everything had
checked out normal, my stress test, echocardiograms,” Negedu told ESPN.
“My doctor that did the surgery cleared me to play. I feel I can play.
I’m fine.

“There was no
evidence of damage to my heart. I went to Indiana, I talked to them, it
was all good and then somebody said, ‘Sorry, it’s not going to work
out.’ I was down. I didn’t want to talk to other schools. I wanted to
go to Indiana. But after that, I was open to going anywhere.”

Precedence

That next step took
Negedu in the direction of Will Kimble, who had an ICD inserted in him
back in 2002 after he collapsed on the basketball court.

“I told him that if
you’re going to do it, you have to treat yourself like you’re any other
player,” said Kimble, who went on to play with an ICD in 64 games,
covering two seasons (2004-06) at the University of Texas in El Paso
(UTEP) without incident.

Kimble went on to
reveal that UTEP trainers and doctors would put a protective cover over
his chest to help absorb any blows which were commonplace for his
position as a forward, which is also Negedu’s position.

“I told him that
you have to be comfortable out there and you should be around people
who are comfortable with you playing,” continued Kimble who then added:

“He’s probably
better off than four or five guys out there [playing basketball] that
don’t even know they have a problem [without an ICD].”

Under NCAA rules,
Negedu is expected to wait until the 2011-12 season before he can be
eligible to feature for UNM, but the school is set to meet with NCAA
officials in their bid to make him eligible for the upcoming season,
which is perfect for Negedu as he just wants to keep on playing
basketball.

“I love to play the
game, this is what I’ve been doing,” he continued. “Every morning I
woke up and they said, you can’t do this, you can’t do this. You can’t
run, you can’t jump for three months. I would go for another check-up
and if they found something wrong with me, then okay, I won’t do this
anymore.

“But they found
nothing wrong, so that’s what keeps me going,” added Negedu, who then
disclosed that he recently called home to inform his family he had been
cleared to play at New Mexico.

There was, however,
someone dear to him who was missing when he called home to share his
piece of good news, as one of his older sisters had died back in
January of malaria at the age of 39.

“I could feel them jumping through the phone,” he said. “I’m happy. I’m alive. I can’t wait to get back on the court.”

Nigerian golfer Abdullahi Ali who died on Wednesday, has been buried in Kaduna.

Ali died in an
automobile accident 30 kilometres from Minna in Niger State. Another
Nigerian golfer, Christian Godfrey and a caddy simply identified as
Bernard also died in the crash.

Reports say the
trio were on their way to Minna to participate in the Minna Cantonment
Professional Golf Championship when one of the tyres of the vehicle in
which they were travelling burst forcing the vehicle into a head-on
collision with another vehicle.

Abdullahi Ali was one of Africa’s hottest professional golfers.

Last month, playing
in his first tour outside Nigeria this year, he blew away an
experienced field of golfers to win the Moanda Golf Championship, which
took place at Manga Golf Club in Gabon.

With him at that tournament were two other Nigerians, Basiru Bakare and Gift Willy, who jointly finished in sixth place.

Among the players Ali scalped were five-time champion and Gabon’s number one, Brice Moukagni.

The young golfer
was understandably ecstatic following his achievement, dedicating his
victory to the golf family in Nigeria which he said had been of immense
support to him.

One month after his
feat in Gabon, Ali won the Cameroon International Golf Championship. It
was a remarkable achievement for someone who turned professional in
2005.

His triumph in
Cameroon took place over a week ago. Four days after, he was dead,
throwing the golf community in Nigeria into mourning. Sam Emehelu, one
of Nigeria’s leading writers on golf who has travelled on several tours
with Ali, described his death as painful.

“News of his death
came as a shock to me. It was unbelievable because I could not imagine
that a player that I was with only a few days in Yaoundé during the
Cameroon Open had passed on. It is indeed a big blow to golf in Nigeria
because he and Godfrey were two of the leading golfers in Nigeria,”
Emehelu said.

Great professionals

Basiru Bakare, Ali’s close friend who was in Gabon and Cameroon with him is saddened by the loss.

“This is a huge
loss to me personally; he was a close friend. As a matter of fact we
shared a room in Yaoundé last week. This is a big, big blow,” he said,

With Ali’s burial,
a chapter has been closed on one of the most exciting periods in the
annals of professional golfing in Nigeria. Godfrey is yet to be buried.
Golf faithful await details of his burial from his family. Like Ali,
Godfrey who was an indigene of Edo State and an accomplished golfer.

He turned
professional in 2002 and three years later became the first Nigerian
professional golfer to feature on the European tour when he was invited
to participate in the Omega Masters tournament in Switzerland.

On the Nigeria
tour, he won a number of tournaments including the IBB Open where he
holds the course record, the ULO Consultants, the Pinnacle Open and the
President Open, which he won last in November 2009. Godfrey was a
member of the Nigerian contingent at the World Cup of Golf qualifier,
which took place in Malaysia last year.

Dominic Andrew, PGAN Nigeria Tour tournament director says Godfrey and Ali will be missed.

“We don’t know for
how long but we would have to mourn these great individuals. We
commensurate with their families and pray that the Lord grant them the
fortitude to bear this great loss. It is a great loss to the golf
family and the country at large. We will miss them a lot,” he said.

As a mark of
respect for the dead golfers, the Minna tournament, which they were
going to participate in before they died, has been postponed. In a
related development, the body of professional golfers in Nigeria, the
Professional Golfers Association, says it will organise an annual
tournament in honour of Ali.

At the young age of
23, French man Rafael Nadal has achieved what players in their thirties
have not yet confirmed as a goal. Nadal, last week, in Madrid won a
record-breaking 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title as he defeated
rival Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5), in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 final Sunday at
the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. This was their first meeting after the
2009 Madrid final, which Federer won on the way to claiming his first
French Open.

But Nadal is back
to his best on his favourite surface. He became the first player to win
all three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay court tournaments in the
same year, having triumphed at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the
Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Madrid Masters tournaments.

With 28 tour-level
clay-court titles, the Spaniard has moved into level pegging with Ivan
Lendl in fifth place and Ilie Nastase in modern day tennis. Guillermo
Vilas, however, holds the all-time record of 45 titles on clay. If
Nadal stays fit over the next five years, he could yet eclipse Vilas’
record.

On the back of the
win over his main challenger, Federer, Nadal goes to Roland Garros
buoyed by the fact that he is about back to his clay court best.

After the win, an
elated Nadal said: “But I’m pretty happy with the way I played. I’ve
played great this week so I definitely come out of this tournament with
tons of confidence.”

Tons of confidence
aside, his record at Roland Garros is scary. He has lost just once
since he started competing at the tennis Grand Slam since 2005 and that
was to Robin Soderling at last year’s event. He lost in the fourth
round but that defeat can be ascribed to be an injury-induced one. He
had to pull out of the tour to tend his knees and the well reported
case of tendinitis.

Celebrating 30
years of French clay A premiere of the “30 years of contemporary art at
Roland Garros” exhibition was unveiled on Tuesday at the Roland Garros
gallery of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) museum. The exhibition
celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Galerie Lelong and the FFT
working together. For thirty years – since 1980, the two institutions
have commissioned this edition’s tournament poster from a popular
modern day artist. About 50 works – from the past and present, are on
display at the gallery, with the opening attended by FFT President Jean
Gachassin and a whole host of guests including Nalani Malani, who
designed the 2010 poster.

Road to glory

There were a lot of
movements in the new rankings released on Monday and that brought up
the likelihood that there could be a Federer versus Nadal final again
in France. Venus Williams meanwhile made the final in Madrid which gave
her enough points to move to No.2, behind her younger sister, Serena.
So another Williams’ final is a distinct possibility.

Wilfried Tsonga
will count himself a lucky chap with Juan Martin del Potro and Nikolay
Davydenko pulling out, the Mohammed Ali look-alike will be seeded No.8
and will not have to play a fellow top 10 player before the
quarter-finals at the earliest.

1998 winner Carlos
Moya, David Nalbandian and Ivo Karlovic have all had to withdraw
through injury and their places in the main draw have been taken by
Robby Ginepri and Taylor Dent from the US and Japanese Bollettieri
academy player Kei Nishikori.

Also in the male
draws, Fernando Verdasco of Spain seems to be back to his hitting best
after suffering a foot problem at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in
Madrid earlier in the month. He looked back to his best on Wednesday as
he brushed aside Florent Serra 6-2, 6-2 in his opening match at the
Open de Nice.

France pair of
Richard Gasquet and crowd favourite, Gael Monfils are getting precious
match time on the French Riviera as well, having also made it through
to the quarter-finals. Swedish 2009 French Open finalist Robin
Soderling and Nadal conqueror suffered a shock upset however at the
hands of Belgian Olivier Rochus.

The poster girl of
tennis is back, former world number one; Russian Maria Sharapova will
be in France after almost a year of niggling injuries. She will be at
Roland Garros after playing at the Internationaux de Strasbourg
tournament, brushing aside Bulgaria’s Dia Evtimova 6-3, 6-0.

But on current form, no player on the circuit will fancy their
chances against Nadal in the men’s tournament, this Madrid-born clay
court master is not afraid to get dirty to win.

Usain Bolt returns
to China, the scene of his Beijing 2008 break out, seeking to establish
a further mark as the leading sprinter on the planet.

After destroying
the field and breaking records aplenty, the Jamaican might be forgiven
for taking it easy, but that is not his plans. There are many
established sprinters like Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell who are itching
to be the first to beat the world record holder, as well as some
younger runners who have a thirst for his scalp.

He obviously
enjoyed the attention as he luxuriated in it on his return to China on
Friday, accompanied by former champion in the 110m hurdles, Liu Xiang,
who is trying to resuscitate his athletics career.

Bolt said at the
meeting: “I am loving it; this is where I burst out. I really enjoy the
crowd here; there is a lot of support.” Bolt won the 100 and 200 meters
gold at the Beijing Olympics in world record time and will start his
grand prix season officially in Shanghai. He will run in the 200m on
Sunday in the Diamond League’s second meet of the season.

At the press
conference, he was regaled by a first meeting with the Chinese
sprinter, which left Bolt giggling. The pair was asked if they could
remember when they first met, and Xiang recalled the 2005 World
Championships in Helsinki where he watched Bolt limp off the track
injured.

Setting new records

On Wednesday, Bolt
clocked a time of 9.86 seconds in Daegu, South Korea, easily defeating
compatriot, Michael Frater, with a time that was 0.28 slower than his
world record of 9.58s.

But he was still
sprightly after the race, saying he knows he will be beaten one day. “I
have said it before, I can be beaten. I really work hard not to be,” he
said, adding that a defeat could even make the sport more interesting.
“I take everybody seriously as long as you are in the lane beside me.”
Asked if he will be trying to break the 200m record, Bolt said: “I
don’t know how close I can get. I’ll try to run hard to execute, as I
always am keen to give my fans a good show. That’s always my aim,” he
concluded.

Bolt will be
running only the 200m in China. “I do enjoy going out and doing the
200m. I’ve heard good things about this track, I’ve been told it’s very
good, so if it is as good as they say, it should be a good time. I’m
just looking forward to going out there, and executing and coming out
injury free.”

Having started the
season like he ended the last one, he is just happy to be fresh and fit
for the outdoor season. “I’m definitely proud the way I’ve started out
my season in both events,” he said, though he conceded he still has
areas in his racing technique that have to be fine-tuned.

All that his competitors can pray for is to catch the record holder on his off day in Daegu today.

>> 1977- The first MRI scan was performed on a human being in the United States of America.

>> 1989- Two-year ban clamped on
Nigeria, following alterations to the ages of three players at the 1988
Olympics in South Korea. The players – Dahiru Sadi, Andrew Uwe and
Samson Siasia – had previously represented Nigeria at U-20 level.

>> 2002- The Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) bans 16 players from four countries – Oman, Iran,
Bangladesh and Thailand – for fielding over aged players at the 2000
AFC U-16 Championship. An additional eight players from Pakistan and
four from Yemen are also banned at the end of the 2002 tournament.

>> 2003- CAF bans Kenya after
fielding players who were over the age of 20 for an African Youth
Championship qualifier. The secretary of the Kenyan FA, Hussein Swaleh
was banned for three years after the players insisted FA officials were
aware of their real ages and had played a role in falsifying their age
documents.

>> 2008- North Korea, Tajikistan
and Iraq lose their spots in the 2008 AFC U-16 Championship despite
making it from the qualifiers after fielding over aged players.

>> 2008- Niger gets kicked out of
Nigeria 2009 after fielding a 22-year-old player at the qualifying
tournament in Algeria, with their place taken by Malawi who went on to
make their debut at a FIFA tournament.

>> 2009- Yemen’s qualification
for Nigeria 2009 is annulled by the AFC after an MRI scan on one of
their players, Wesam Saleh Ahmed Al Worafi, revealed he was over 16
years old.