Nigeria Content Online

Cowrie
RFC on Sunday emerged winners of the Lagos Rugby Union League and
etched their name in the record books by becoming the first side to
finish the season unbeaten.

The air was thick
with anticipation on Sunday at the main bowl of the National Stadium,
Lagos as fans of the sport waited to see how Cowrie would end the third
edition of the Lagos Rugby Union League organised by the Friends of
Rugby (FOR). This was because Cowrie went into the match at the summit
of the league table with an unbeaten run. And their opposition in their
final game was second-placed Addax RFC.

Cowrie, however,
cruised to victory, deafeating Addax 15-0 to maintain their unbeaten
streak, and successfully defending their title for the second year
consecutively. They accumulating 56 points, 21 points ahead of Addax,
who finished the season with 35 points.

In other matches
decided earlier on Sunday, Young Lions, inspired by their coach-player
Ntiense Williams, who is also the coordinator of the league, defeated
fifth-placed Gosar 12-0. The victory took their points tally to 11 but
it wasn’t enough to lift them out of the sixth position. Lagos RFC lost
8-5 to Police Machine but retained third spot on the table with 29
points, a spot above the Police team who ended the campaign with 18
points.

Something for everyone

For their efforts,
Cowrie got a cash award of N250,000, in addition to N50,000 for
emerging as the league’s most disciplined side, while second place
Addax got N100,000 and an additional N25,000 after they were adjudged
as the most improved team of the season.

The Cowrie duo of
Jojo Jafar and Azeez Ladipo respectively emerged as highest tries and
points scorer and were each given a cash prize of N25,000. Samson
Yahaya also emerged as the season’s MVP and was rewarded with a cash
prize of N30,000.

The Rugby League
final had a capacity crowd of over 2,000 spectators and players with a
full support of over 250 workers & friends of CMB Buildings &
Maintenance Investment Company Limited, which is owned by Kelechi
Mbagwu, chairman FOR.

With the National
Sports Festival scheduled to take place sometime next year, no kick off
date has been fixed for the next season.

“This is because of the National Sport Festival,” Williams said. “We
do not want our programmes to affect that of the National programme. We
are also hoping to accommodate more clubs. For now we have told the
interested club to go and register their interest and our board would
look into it.”

Since
there is a time for everything, I crave the permission of regular
readers to react to comments posted via the Internet, by readers.

On October 9, 2010,
the following – very instructive, comments were posted apparently, as
reactions to the column of Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

Busman commented as
follows… “If your goal is to save Nigeria Sports please don’t place
your focus on winning the football World Cup. Over emphasis on winning
the most contested prize in sport will dilute the ability to excel in
so many other sports which are currently almost completely ignored in
this country. First we need grassroots sporting competitions in Primary
schools, in a wide range of sports. Follow it up with the secondary
schools once the talent is spotted. Pick a sport (not football) and
arrange for every Local Government in Lagos to have teams in three age
groups that are coached and compete every week. Let’s focus on getting
some athletes, tennis players, swimmers, rugby or basketball players,
back to the TOP of the world.”

Noway, posted the
following: “Please, I beg. Forget this entire God will save us
nonsense. It is another way of making an excuse for not working hard to
make things happen. Do for self. If you believe in God and you get
something done then maybe He will be happy. He sure as hell ain’t going
to do it for you.”

The last comment,
came from the Nigerian Tennis Ambassador – Sadiq Abdullahi, thus… “I
have followed your analysis, thinking and rationale on sports
development particularly grassroots development in your column for
several months. SANSI when fully launched and operational has the
potential to make an impact and play a significant role in rebuilding
our grassroots sports infrastructures. There is the need to mobilise
all interested current and ex-national and international players in all
sports including ex-Olympians to a summit on sports development in
Nigeria, similar to the one you had recently in Lagos. The sports
summit will accomplish clearly defined objectives, one of which is to
conceptualise and design a blueprint for moving forward.”

My reactions to the comments

First, I have come
to appreciate and respect what is known as the 60% rule, or factor, in
communications. This applies to all forms of communication being passed
to others, either via the print or electronic medium. What it means is
that a maximum of only 60% of your messages are well understood, or
ever gets to the reader or listener. The remaining 40% is swallowed up,
as it were, by socio-economic, political, religious, marital and
several other problems, especially in a country like Nigeria, where the
thoughts of survival and security aggressively compete for attention on
daily basis. In this sort of clime, there is the need, not only to
inform, but to over inform, so that the likes of Noway – the second
commentator above, may eventually understand what we are saying,
appreciate the philosophy driving SANSI, catch the vision and hopefully
run with it.

Second, I humbly
appeal to Busman – the first commentator above, to please check the
column of Tuesday 5th October 2010, properly. We did not in any way
suggest that focus will be on winning the FIFA World cup trophy in
2018. What we said in the column is and I quote “one of the projects of
SANSI is ensuring that this great nation wins … in 2018”.

Truth is we prefer
to operate like the charcoal fire and not like the wild bushfire. We
have been working and networking with a couple of people inside and
outside this great nation for almost eight years, on the issue of
reviving Nigerian sports. These people include very experienced
administrators, managers, coaches, sports scientists, marketers – you
name it. We have come across some “energisers” and “energy
sappers/dream snatchers” along the line. Some of our ideas have been
plagiarised. We have had to, just like Abdullahi commented very
appropriately, contend with some individuals with hidden agendas and
mighty egos.

But we are unperturbed. We are determined, focused and trusting God
for divine guidance. We believe in Abraham Lincoln’s statement, which
is “give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first
four hours sharpening the axe.” A major distraction occurred while
writing this piece. I received a text message on the bribery scandal
involving our own Amos Adamu. I quickly responded that the sender
should please remember that this is October and not April, and I will
therefore refuse to be fooled. Amos Adamu in a N125million bribery
scandal? No way. Any right thinking Nigerian should know that Adamu is
worth billions of dollars. How then could such a person, popularly
known as “Mr Fix-it” fall for such peanuts? Whether it is a very
serious allegation or not, is not important now. The issue is whether
Adamu will be able to “fix” this busy body England’s Sunday Times
undercover reporter’s story or not. Time will tell.

The
Chief Executive Officer of Rangers International FC, Ozor Paul
Chibuzor, has said that his team, which ended last season in fifth
position, has been re-positioned to make a bold statement this term
when the new season kicks off on Saturday.

In an exclusive
interview, the soft spoken club administrator said his team was fully
prepared for the new season with the retention of about 75% of players
that featured for the Enugu-based ‘Flying Antelopes’ last season.

“I must tell you
that Rangers is very much ready to reclaim all its lost glory this
coming season. We have learnt our lessons from last season which to
some extent, have to be celebrated because, for a long while, Rangers
have not had the opportunity of playing teams from outside our shores
and with our fifth place finish, our fans can enjoy some sort of
international football with qualification for next season’s WAFU cup,”
Chibuzor said. “I can tell you that as I talk, only two players are yet
to sign the contract papers with us and it is because they are in the
senior national team. So, we are ready to give Enyimba of Aba a run for
the trophy they won last season.”

The roster is already full

On reports making
the rounds that players were not willing to sign for the club and that
he was not in the good books of the clubs’ sole financier, Chibuzor
said, “There is no iota of truth in that as I can conveniently tell you
that 98% of players that we need for the new season have all signed for
us and for all the noise that the clubs’ supporters want me out, I term
that the work of the clubs’ detractors that are operating within the
club. But, for some few selfish individuals that are self-seeking, we
are an organized group that has one goal of leading Rangers to the
promise land this season.

“For the new
season, we can boast of a very dedicated set of players that are
willing to spill their blood for the club. With the likes of Francis
Okammor, Uche Oguchi, Uche Ugochukwu, James Okwosah, John Aguda and a
host of other new players working with the retained players, I don’t
have any doubt that we will come out tops in the coming season. On the
players and coaches entitlements, he said: “I have had fruitful talks
with the state SSG and before the start of the new season, and the
backlog of dues owed will be settled with some remuneration for the new
season also been offset.

“Also, the
technical crew led by Alphonsus Dike, that has done marvellously well
will continue the good work of leading Rangers to the glory land,” said
the former U.S based club administrator.

Rangers will play their first match of the season at home against
Lobi Stars of Makurdi on Sunday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Kickoff
is scheduled for 4pm, local time.

FIFA
vice-president Reynald Temarii welcomes a “full and thorough
investigation” into newspaper claims he offered to sell his vote in the
contest to host the 2018 World Cup.

The Sunday Times
said Oceania Football Confederation president Temarii and Nigeria’s
Amos Adamu – both members of world football governing body FIFA’s
executive committee – had offered to sell their votes when approached
by reporters posing as lobbyists for an American consortium.

The newspaper
report said Adamu was filmed asking for £500,000 (N125,000,000) for a
personal project and that Tahitian Temarii asked an undercover reporter
in Auckland £1.42m (N355,000,000) to fund a sports academy at the OFC’s
headquarters.

Ready for investigation

“Further to
information made public by The Sunday Times, the OFC president and FIFA
vice president Reynald Temarii will cooperate fully with the FIFA
Ethics Committee and the FIFA secretary general,” a statement from the
OFC said.

“Reynald Temarii welcomes a full and thorough investigation so that all the facts can be heard.”

The OFC said it would not comment further until the findings of the FIFA Ethics Committee have been released.

FIFA will decide on
December 2 in Zurich which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 World
Cups. The choices will be made by the 24-strong executive committee.

However a source
close to the executive, who asked not to be named, said both Adamu and
Temarii could find themselves suspended or off the committee by then if
the claims against them were substantiated.

“FIFA will not
allow anyone or anything to damage the reputation of the voting
procedure and it could be that 22 men might make the decision, not 24,”
the source said.

England and Russia are bidding for the 2018 finals along with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.

The candidates for 2022 are the United States, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Australia.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter appealed to his executive committee members to stay silent as he launched an investigation.

“I am sorry to have
to inform you of a very unpleasant situation which has developed in
relation to an article published … in the Sunday Times, entitled
‘World Cup votes for sale’,” Blatter wrote in an open letter.

“I will keep you duly informed of any further developments.

“In the meantime, I would like to ask you to refrain from making any public comments on this matter.”

With
sixteen Champions league titles between them, the match between the
Rossoneri and Los Merengues takes the cake as Day 3 of the most
lucrative club competition resumes today.

Jose Mourinho loved
Inter Milan but never settled well in Italy. Today, he gets another
chance against his former neighbours, AC Milan when Real Madrid files
out against the 7-time champions at the Santiago Bernebeu.

Against all
expectations, AC Milan are top of the Serie A and boast of a forward
line that is the envy of all European clubs – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (a
former Inter Milan player under Mourinho), Robinho, Ronaldinho,
Alexandre Pato and ageless Fillipo Inzaghi. Milan will also be buoyed
by last season’s 3-2 win with a brace from Pato.

That lineup plus
last season’s win should put fear in the heart of any defence line and
their manager but one thing the ‘Special One’ does not know is fear.

Yet to lose

Real Madrid is yet
to lose under Mourinho and have only conceded three goals in nine
matches both in the league and in Europe. The Portuguese was hired
specifically to win the Decima – a 10th European Cup and to end
Barcelona’s dominance, both in Spain and in Europe. He is top of the
Primera division currently with Cristiano Ronaldo’s league-leading six
goals.

Mourinho’s drive for excellence was encapsulated in his statement after his side beat Malaga comfortably 4-1 away.

“I do not like
Malaga’s goal. Alright you have to give credit to them as a team, who
have certainly worked hard on their move and succeeded. But, my team
knew this move, and knew what to do. We knew the play of Malaga but
seemed to relax a little. It would have been better for us if the game
was completely dead because we play again on Tuesday, and that goal
made us work harder.” Well, work he will if he is to preserve Real’s
unbeaten start to the season and score one of the most prestigious
scalps in the history of the competition.

Real Madrid – 9 – 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1965-66, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2001-02

AC Milan – 7 – 1962-63, 1968-69, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1993-94, 2002-03, 2006-07.

Chelsea return to scene of misery

The Blues take on
Spartak Moscow at the site of their agonising 2008 Champions League
defeat to Manchester United on penalties – and who can forget the slip
from John Terry on the last penalty kick? If he had scored, Chelsea
will be boasting of a win today.

Both teams are
unbeaten with perfect records – six points from two wins. One statistic
will fall today as both of them cannot win today.

The match is to be played on an artificial turf which tends to affect players who are not used to the surface.

Tottenham complained about it after their trip to Switzerland to face Young Boys in an earlier fixture.

For Spartak,
holders of the unenviable record of 22 successive Champions League
games without a win that stretched for more than five years between
2001 and 2006, Tuesday’s match will be the stiffest test yet of their
European ambitions.

Spartak are aware
that a win against the English champions will almost guarantee a place
in the knockout round for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

Spartak coach Valery Karpin told the press that he understands the test that his side will face against Chelsea today.

“We had a great
start, probably better than some of our fans had expected. But we all
know that beating Chelsea would be a totally different proposition from
what we had before. So we’re not getting carried away by any means.”

Drogba and Lampard not available

Chelsea will still
be without a recuperating Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba who is yet to
get over a fever that sidelined him from the Aston Villa clash on
Saturday.

Meanwhile, Jose Bosingwa is back after a year of injury, and Carlo
Ancelotti could also have the services of Salomon Kalou, Daniel
Sturridge and defender Alex, who has recovered from a thigh injury. But
Spartak’s own Alex has been ruled out with the same thigh problem.

With
just five weeks to the much anticipated sixth edition of the Obudu
International Mountain Race and the second African mountain running
championships for both men and women, more top athletes around the
world have confirmed their readiness to be at the big athletics event.

The growing list of athletes already confirmed for the event includes reigning world champion, Andrea Mayr of Austria.

Mayr, who has
remained unbeaten in the World Mountain Running Association grand prix
series and won the world title last month, will be staging a comeback
to reclaim the title she was unable to defend last year due to a
bicycle accident few weeks before the event.

Others who have
also stated their readiness to stake a claim for the $50,000
(N7,500,000) top prize for men and women race winners respectively
include Turkey’s Ahmet Arslan, the reigning European mountain running
champion , the Kenyan trio of Emily Chepkemoi Samoei ,Pamela Chepkemoi
Pertom and Irene Cherop Loritareng who have all been impressive in the
2010 season. Also in for the International Mountain race is women’s
former champion, Rehima Kedir of Ethiopia.

Unprecedented entries

Patrick Ugbe, the
media chief for the race told the journalists over the weekend that
this year’s race has witnessed an unprecedented number of athletes who
want to come down to Nigeria to participate.

“This is very
pleasing to us because of the many negative reports in the
international media about how unsafe Nigeria is. We have been able to
consistently let the whole world know how safe Nigeria is with the
perfect organisation of the race,” Ugbe said.

“This will be the
sixth edition of the race and we have not received any negative report
about it. Instead we have had more Europeans, Asians and South
Americans making enquiries about the race than ever. Even the president
of the world mountain running association, Bruno Gozzelino has revealed
that the Obudu Ranch Resort, venue for the annual race can conveniently
host the world championships.”

Ugbe said the
executive Governor of Cross River, Liyel Imoke, has been the driving
force behind the good image the race is giving Nigeria as a country and
Cross River as a state.

The Obudu Mountain
Resort is one of the finest tourist destinations in the world. Deep in
the tropical rain forest of Cross River.

The resort which is located on the Obudu Plateau at an altitude of
1,576 metres above Sea level is equipped with modern facilities like an
International Hotel, and airstrip, a Golf Course, nature reserve,
Waterpark and is equipped with a Cable Car and a Canopy Walkway.

Delhi
put on a second flawless spectacle of song and dance Thursday to close
the Commonwealth Games on a high after at one stage threatening to
become a national embarrassment to India.

The $6 billion
Games started in crisis and struggled through a first week of
organisational blunders before finally getting into its stride to leave
athletes happy and a host nation proud of its best ever showing in the
sporting arena.

Chief local
organiser Suresh Kalmadi, who bore the brunt of public anger and was
jeered at the closing ceremony as he had been at the opening, paid
tribute to the spirit the city had shown in bringing the Games back
from crisis.

“A month ago questions were being asked about whether the Games would be held at all,” he said.

“We knew it was
about India’s ability to stand up and show the world what we are
capable of and we can achieve in the face of adversity. We did just
that.”

India’s hope was
that the Games would display its ability to put on a world class
multi-sport gathering but chaotic preparations and a series of
organisational blunders turned it into a public relations disaster.

India is proud of
being the “jugaadu” – the Hindi word for “making do” – nation, however,
and the filthy athletes’ village was quickly made fit for habitation, a
collapsed footbridge was reconstructed by the army and security was
effective.

“The organisation
of this Games has been characterised by many challenges and (they) have
overcome those obstacles to deliver a truly outstanding event,” Games
Federation chief Michael Fennell told the 60,000 crowd at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Earlier, India’s
badminton queen Saina Nehwal clawed her way back from match point down
to claim a 38th gold for the hosts and ensure second place on the medal
table, their best ever finish.

Australia on top

Australia topped
the table for the sixth successive Games with 74 gold medals with
England (37) just edged into third ahead of Canada (26). South Africa,
Kenya and Malaysia won 12 golds.

The center of
Indian capital was again locked down on Thursday with reports in the
British media of a specific threat to the closing ceremony a reminder
of security concerns which caused some athletes to stay away from Delhi.

Rajan Bhagat, a
spokesman for Delhi police, ruled out any new threat and said the
100,000 police and military who have been guarding Delhi and the
various Games venues were not reinforced.

“There is adequate security and there is no change in the levels of threat perception,” he said.

After marching
bands and the handover of the Games flag to the 2014 host city Glasgow,
the David Dixon award for the Athlete of the Games went to Jamaica’s
Trecia Smith, who successfully defended her triple jump title.

Passionate fans

It was India’s
success in the sporting arena, however, that helped turn the event
around with crowds flocking to venues that had been virtually empty at
the beginning of the 12-day even “This is not the end but the
beginning,” Kalmadi, who is also President of the Indian Olympic
Association, added. “For the athletes this was a life-changing
experience.

For India it was a
new beginning in sports. For the world, it was what India can do.”
Nehwal showed what she could do when she beat Malaysia’s Wong Mew Choo
in front of a delirious packed house at the Siri Fort complex.

“The crowd was
really important,” Nehwal said. “I’ve never been match point down
before so I was under pressure. I think it was the toughest match of my
career.” Kenya won both men’s and women’s gold in the marathon, which
kicked off the final day, to complete its domination of the athletics
with 11 golds.

Few spectators
braved the security barriers and morning heat but the city’s wildlife
was again out in force with police chasing stray dogs and using sticks
to clear monkeys from the course.

Indian’s men’s hockey team failed in their quest to win a first Games gold, humbled 8-0 by triple defending champions Australia.

Despite the Delhi belly stomach complaints and the security that kept them mostly locked up in the village,

athletes were mostly positive about their Delhi experience.

“There were spectacular venues and really caring people ensured all
our needs were met,” said Canada’s chef de mission Martha Deacon. “The
Games are an incredible success. We had a great two weeks in Delhi.”

The
Nigeria Rugby Football Federation on Wednesday launched the iTry Rugby
Cluster Programme with funfare at Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval. The
programme, meant for Junior Secondary School 1(JSS1) students, was
launched in conjunction with Promasidor Nigeria, makers of Cowbell
Milk.

The iTry Cluster
Programme of the NRFF is meant to build structures that would last. The
scheme also seeks to introduce rugby into the secondary school
curriculum. A training programme which would begin this week and run
for five weeks would flag off the programme after which the children
would play against each other for the next nine months. The launching
had boys and girls from about 30 schools in Lagos attending the
occasion.

A tough task

Though the children
were excited, they did not seem to know what they were there for. A
simple question of “what are you here for?” had left the children
looking for their game masters, to explain to them what they had been
gathered for. This kind of ignorance is what the NRFF hopes to address.

Ajetunmobi Olusola,
games master of Igbowo Junior Secondary school, Mushin said though he
knew about rugby, the children had no clue about the game.

“I know of the game of Rugby but I have very little idea of how it is played.

“We are in this
school’s programme because we were invited to join. Our school is known
to be very good in sporting activities, so I think that was one of the
reasons why we were chosen to be involved in this programme. I know it
is going to be good for the children because I saw that when you were
talking to them earlier they had no idea of what you were saying”.

The training format

The children will
be trained to play Rugby 7’s which is another formation in Rugby. It
simply means that each of the teams would be seven on each side.
According to Fola Odetoyinbo, NRFF’s Head of Youth Development, the
reason for this is that Rugby 7’s is less complicated and easier to
learn than the Rugby 15’s. He goes on to say that “come 2011, we hope
to carry this (the event) to other parts of the country but we would
start from Kwara, then Kaduna and on and on till we are able to have
the programme in schools all over the country. Our vision is to get to
the 2016 Olympic Games, so you can see we have long term plans.

Jide Afolabi, NRFF
Coaching Institute Coordinator said the coaches had been trained to the
standard of the International Rugby Board (IRB) so that they will be
able to train young ones. One of the coaches, Clement Dennis had been
coaching some schools on his own before.

“The initiative is
a plus for the development of the game of rugby. Formerly, I was just
coaching on my own with support from the schools I was coaching but and
it was not too easy because they were no tools for trainings. Now
however, we know that with the Federation giving a helping hand, things
will be better.

He goes on to say that this not the first this kind of initiative was tried.

“There was effort
in times past to organize a schools Rugby programme in 1999 and I was
one of the coaches involved in that venture but it was not successful.
I cannot tell you till date what actually happened even though I was
actively involved. Everything just disintegrated just like that and the
programme did not come to a satisfactory conclusion. This one however,
better organised and I know that it would go in a better direction,” he
said.

The high point of
the day was when the sporting items such as the kits, balls and cones
were distributed to the children through their games masters.

“Now I can’t wait
to learn the game. I will know how to play more games than some of my
friends,” one of the youngsters, Aliyu Sani said after the basics of
Rugby had been explained.

Journalists were also not left out, as a crash course on the
history, the set pieces, and the different positions people play in
rugby was given by Akin Akintola, the Chief Operating Officer of the
rugby federation.

These
are surely not the best of times for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney
who has locked himself on a collision course with his manager, Alex
Ferguson on the gaffer’s injury claims. Rooney has come out publicly to
refute claims by Ferguson that the England man is not fully fit and is
suffering from an ankle injury.

United fans will be
hoping that this incident does not follow the paths of David Beckham,
Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who had such encounters and were eventually sold.
As the new boys of West Brom come calling, it will be pertinent to see
whether Rooney will start or be benched. “During the World Cup I
trained in every session and had no problems fitness wise,” said
Rooney. “I’ve been training for the last two months. I haven’t missed a
training session. So I’ve got no problems with my fitness.”

Ferguson’s ego at stake

If he is benched,
then there might problems in Ferguson’s relationship with United’s
highest goal scorer for last season. Owen Hargreaves could make his
long-awaited return from a two-year injury on Saturday. West Brom are
however on a roll; and after defeating Arsenal at the Emirates, what
better ground to test the new found status. They sit sixth, and Coach
Roberto Di Matteo has called on his players to use the Emirates’
triumph to boost their confidence ahead of Saturday’s game. Nigerian
player, Osaze Odemwingie, September’s player of the month, and the
team’s creative fulcrum, Jerome Thomas, are both battling to be fit for
the trip to Old Trafford.

In three trips to
the ‘Big 4’, of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – they have lost two and
won one. Di Matteo also added that: “Is the Arsenal win going to change
our attitude? No, because the attitude has always been very good, very
positive and very committed from the players’ point of view. But it’s
another game and we treat it like one single game, and then we’ll think
about the next one after that.” Di Matteo was unbeaten in the three
top-flight occasions he played at the Theatre of Dreams for Chelsea;
winning 2-1 on his first visit there and drawing 1-1 and 3-3.

Another Chelsea trip to Villa Park

Villa Park is not
one of the grounds that holds fond memories for Chelsea, especially the
departed Jose Mourinho, whose days as manager of Chelsea got short
circuited at Villa Park. Last season, Chelsea were defeated 2-1, even
though they scored first. One player hoping the status quo stays is a
former Blues’ player, Steve Sidwell, and he is counting on the fans to
raise the roof as they welcome the defending champions. “It’s going to
be a tough game,” he said. “They are doing really well but we have got
a good record against them apart from last year away. Hopefully we can
put that to one side and go into it confident and get a result. I
personally think they will win the league. The way they have started
this year and on the evidence shown they should do really well but it’s
a long season and a lot of ups and downs happen. At home the fans are
great, especially against the big teams. They really do get behind the
players, which is really important because sometimes when it’s 0-0, or
if you’re 1-0 down, when you need that extra push, it does come from
the fans.” There are injury concerns for John Terry for Chelsea and
Ashley Young for Aston Villa.

Wilshere hopes Arsenal will remain focussed

When Arsenal lost
last season in the league, they lost in pairs. This season, they have
lost to West Brom and Chelsea in successive match days so it should be
safe to assume that the Gunners will be getting a victory over
Birmingham on Saturday. Arsene Wenger will be glad that he can call on
the return of the duo of Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott. Birmingham
City have looked solid defensively, apart from their loss to Everton,
and will seek to put up a similarly well organised defence like West
Brom and hope to catch the Gunners on the break.

Youngster, Jack
Wilshere, hopes that Arsenal will be patient in breaking up teams that
set up ultra defensively and keep their shape. “Teams come to Arsenal
and hope to catch us on the counter-attack,” he said. “It worked that
day (against West Brom) and we have to learn from that day. We have to
show we can deal with that and get a result on Saturday. I think we
learned from it straight after because we went out to Serbia and got a
good win and then we played well against Chelsea. So I think we learned
from it and hopefully we can get a result against Birmingham. It’s an
important game because you have to get three points in every game.” The
three points are very important if they are not to be set adrift from
the top of the table.

Villa may miss Valencia match

The $40 million buy
from Valencia, David Villa, is a major doubt for Saturday’s game
against Valencia as he sustained a knee injury on duty for Spain
against Scotland on Tuesday. Villa scored a record breaking 45th goal
for Spain in the match against Scotland, taking him above Raul Gonzalez
in the all-time record books.

Xavi has been told
that he will take no part in the match against the league leaders on
Saturday. Xavi’s poise in possession and creation of chances for the
strikers was clearly missing in the last match at the Nou Camp, where
with 78% possession, Mallorca ran away with a 1-1 draw. Xavi has had an
Achilles tendon problem and has been missing from the Barcelona lineup
since the end of September.

Barcelona doctor,
Dr. Cugat said: “Xavi is getting better and better, so that one side
does not have any pain and the other still has a little bit. He wants
to play on Saturday, but I have told him he has to wait a bit because
he still has trouble on the other side. It is too early for him to
play.”

Valencia winger,
Joaquin Sanchez, is also set to be sidelined with a damaged left ankle
and it is estimated that he will be out for ten to 15 days. Valencia
are top of the Primera Division with 16 points from a possible 18,
three more than fourth-placed Catalan side.

After 11 days of gruelling competition in 7 out of the 19 sports approved, Team Nigeria emerged as the ninth best team at the just concluded 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

Amassing a total of 11 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze medals, Nigeria finished the competition as the third best African team with South Africa leading the pack and Kenya coming a close second. Nigeria was one gold medal away from clinching Africa’s top spot. The Australian team emerged champions for the umpteenth time, winning a record seventh title in a row with a total of 177 medals. For Nigeria, the feat attained in Delhi is the best for the country in recent times, second only to the 1994 Victoria Games in Canada where the country amassed 37 medals, 11 of which are Gold medals.

Bio leads team back to Nigeria

The Team Nigeria contingent will be led home today by the Sports Minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Ibrahim Isa Bio. They are expected to arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 7.00pm local time. When the team left for Delhi, India last month, nobody gave them a chance, with some bookmakers writing them off, and posited that they will not win anything. The bookmakers were proven wrong from day one when Nigeria won the first gold medal of the games. The success story continued from that day with the team winning on the average, a gold medal for every day of the 11 day fiesta. Nigeria won medals in weightlifting, power lifting, wrestling and athletics.

Speaking on the team success in Delhi, leader of the delegation to games, Bio, attributed the contingent’s success to the backing the sports commission got from President Goodluck Jonathan “The president is our number one supporter, he not only gave financial backing, he also supported as a fan, his words of encouragement and advises contributed immensely to our good outing in Delhi,” he said.

Already, the athletes are already getting the reward for the hard work in India with the Sports Commission doling out monies as a means of appreciating the athletes. Each gold medallist pocketed the sum $6, 800, while the silver medallists were given $3, 800 and bronze medallists $2, 500. Bio also said he was very impressed with the way and manner athletes and most officials had conducted themselves despite the challenges. “We were only able to pay the athletes their allowances this week but in spite of this there were no incidents of indiscipline amongst them, rather they faced their main goal of doing well at the Games,” he said. “And they can attest to it that immediately the money came we handed it out”

Closing ceremony

As the curtains were drawn on the 19th Commonwealth Games, the impressive closing ceremony, held on Thursday, will be remembered by people who love the traditional dance and art forms of India. One of the special features of the ceremony was ‘Agni’ or, the fire. Presented at the outset of the ceremony, ‘Agni’ displayed a matchless confluence of martial art forms from different parts of the country. About 800 performers displayed the best of their states through traditional martial art in a conflagration of light and sound to hundreds of drum beats.

Kerala’s Kalaripayatt, Manipur’s Thang Ta, Punjab’s Gatka, Silambam from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat’s Talwaar Raas and Naga Warriors with their machetes came together in a high-intensity eight-minute performance. There were all sorts of swords, sticks and spears, and spectators were reminded of India’s martial art traditions dating back many centuries. The next edition of the Commonwealth Games will be staged in Glasgow, United Kingdom in 2014.