Category: Other

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has concluded arrangements to install Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in regional stadiums in the country as plans are underway to train and retrain referees to achieve the purpose.

The President of the federation, Malam Ibrahim Gusau, stated this on Saturday in Ilorin at the National Elective Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Referees’ Association (NRA).

Gusau, represented by an NFF official, Malam Muhammed Ameenu, charged the incoming leadership of the association to come up with development plans, to forecast, organise and ensure the future of Nigeria Referees are properly nurtured and watered towards the growth of the game.

While reiterating the unflinching support of the NFF to NRA in their quest to change the face of football in the country, Gusau said installation of VAR is to the growth and development of football.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Malam Sani Zubair emerged winner after polling 53 votes from the 54 accredited delegates to beat Elder Daniel Olokor to replace Otunba Tade Azeez.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

University of Namibia (UNAM) Football Club coach Ronnie Kanalelo says despite losing two games in a row over a space of a week, his team is not going to panic.

The Clever Boys as the university team is known by its supporters, lost its rounds 25 and 26 fixtures in the 2022/23 Debmarine Namibia Premiership to Citizens and Tigers respectively. UNAM finds themselves fifth on the log standing of 16 teams with 40 points.

Kanalelo told Nampa on Friday that in their previous campaigns, they had 44 points which they want to surpass this season.

“There are still four games remaining in the league. We are targeting a spot in the top five. We want to get further than the 44 points we had in the Premier League,” he said.

The coach added that despite setting a goal to finish with more points the technical team is not going to put pressure on their players.

“If we start looking at the position that we want to be in we will then start losing focus. We have a squad of young players who just played their first Premier League season, and therefore we are not going to ask too much from these young players as they have given it their all week in and week out,” Kanalelo said.

He also stated that his wish is to have all these young players form part of the UNAM squad next season so they can have a better idea of challenging for top honours.

“The position that we are in is something that the players have to be proud of. As a coach, I did not expect to challenge for the title due to the quality of the players that we have. Most of our players made their debut season in the Premier League and lacked experience at this level but come next season, if this team is still together, I am hopeful we will do better,” he said.

UNAM is scheduled to play Orlando Pirates who are 10th on the log standing with 30 points on Sunday, at the Sport Klub Windhoek stadium at 16h00.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Nigeria’s under-24 male handball team on Wednesday lost their opening game to hosts Bulgaria at the fourth International Handball Federation (IHF) Emerging Nations Championship.

The game played at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna saw the hosts beat their African rivals 23-19 to make it their second win in the tournament.

They had earlier defeated Azerbaijan.

Nigeria managed to stay close in the game and exerted some pressure on Bulgaria, especially with the first half ending 11-13 in favour of the hosts.

The Europeans however showed they wanted the win more, beating the Nigerian team being coached by Solomon Yola by four points to stay top on Group D.

Nigeria will face Azerbaijan on Thursday, with a win securing them a spot in the tournament’s placement matches.

Meanwhile, the two wins have qualified Bulgaria to the semi-finals of the tournament where they face Cuba, the top team in Group C, on Saturday.

A total of 12 teams, grouped into four are currently participating in the tournament, which is expected to end on Sunday. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Black Africa (BA) Football Club coach Brian Isaacs said with consistency his team will move out of the relegation zone before the end of the 2022/23 Debmarine Namibia Premiership season.

Black Africa which is currently 14th on the log of a 16-team Premiership stands a chance of being relegated at the end of the season if they don’t improve on their position.

On Saturday at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) Sports Field in Olympia, 10-times Namibia Premier League winner BA got the better of their arch-rival Orlando Pirates in the Katutura derby.

Two impressive goals from BA striker Petrus Sakaria saw them win the game 2-0 as they started on their journey of moving up the table away from the relegation zone with eight games left in this year’s season.

BA was the hungrier team on the day as they created more scoring opportunities earlier on in the game but could not find the back of the net until midway through the match when a brilliant strike from Petrus Sakaria saw Pirates goalkeeper Pieter Tshiamijo exposed.

Sakaria once again found the back of the net in the second half as he caught the Pirate defence napping.

In an interview with the media after the match, Isaacs said the win was important because Pirates is a team they don’t want to lose against.

“We cannot afford to lose points and games in the position that we are in. It’s important to be consistent and accumulate as many points as possible,” said Isaacs.

The coach added that the newly recruited BA coach Bobby Samaria will also play the head coach role as they are both going to use their experience to get the team out of the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Michael Pienaar, Orlando Pirates assistant coach said their players didn’t execute the created opportunities, therefore BA managed to capitalise on theirs.

“We now have to go back to the drawing board to see where to change. We need the points and the players need to show hunger as well as character,” Pienaar said.

In other matches played on Saturday, Citizens won their first match of the season with a 2-1 score against Tura Magic at the Khomasdal Stadium, while African Stars lost their first match of the season against Blue Waters in Walvis Bay.

In Okahandja, Rundu-based Julinho Sporting lost 3-2 to the home team Okahandja United and relegation-threatened Eleven Arrow managed to collect a point at home after a two-all draw against Young Brazilian in Walvis Bay.

At the UNAM stadium here, UNAM collected maximum points after their 1-0 win against Civics, while in the Otjiwarongo, Mighty Gunner beat Life Fighter 1-0.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Athletes representing the Khomas Region reigned supreme on day one of the Athletics Namibia (AN) National Championship currently being held at the Independence Stadium here.

The two-day championship will see athletes that perform exceptionally well throughout the season cementing their positions in the Namibian Team competing at the 2023 Gaborone International Meet in Botswana later this month.

On day one of the championships on Friday, athletes competed in the 100 metres (m), 400m, long-distance and field events with the Khomas region scooping most of the gold medals.

Sprinters Gilbert Hainuca, and Ndawana Haitembu were crowned national champions in the 100m male and female categories respectively while the 400m event saw Mudi-Inosensia Haingura crowned women’s national champion and Andre Retief the male champion.

In the shot-put event, Leeorr-el Breytenbach won the male category with a distance of 15.22m. Karlien Botha, also representing the Khomas region, was crowned women’s discus champion after stiff competition from Tuane Silver. Botha threw with a distance of 43.59m.

The men’s discus throw saw national record holder Ryan William reclaiming his title with a throw of 57.60m which was just 5cm shy of his national record of 57.65m.

Young star Werner Visser who also represented the Khomas region finished second with a distance of 55.79m.

In the men’s 1500m, Thomas Shigwedha put up an impressive performance to shield off his teammate Wilhelm Hangula who came second for the Khomas region.

The third place was taken by an international athlete Manuel Chivela from Angola who competed under his club Pedro Atletico de Luanda.

In the women’s category, the Ohangwena and Omusati regions dominated the 1500m event with Saara Shikongo representing the Ohangwena winning gold while Nyanyukweni Frans and Linea Iita both from Omusati walked away with silver and bronze respectively.

The T53-54 1500m wheelchair race saw Roodley Gowaseb winning gold while his teammate Nico Kharuxab also from the Khomas region walked away with a silver.

At the end of day one of the championships, the Khomas region led with 443 points, followed by Oshikoto and Erongo with 43 and 41 points respectively. Oshana came in fourth place with 31 points and Ohangwena completed the top five positions with 29 points.

Omusati (21) in sixth, Hardap (18) in seventh, Omaheke (13) in eighth, Otjozondjupa (12) in ninth, and Kavango West (7) in 10th position.

Club Petro Atletico de Luanda took the last point position at 11th with six points as other regions failed to register points on the day.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Namibia’s mountain bikers Alex Miller and Anri Krugel were over the weekend crowned Nedbank National Cross-Country champions in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.

The Nedbank National Cross-Country championships were held in the coastal town of Swakopmund on Friday and Saturday.

The two-day event saw Miller successfully defending the elite men’s title which he has won in a row since 2019. The elite women’s category saw Krugel dethroning 2022 champion Monique du Plessis, to be crowned the new Nedbank National women’s cross-country champion.

In the short course category held on Friday, Miller won that race after overpowering Hugo Hahn and Tristan de Lange to once again reclaim that title, while in the national cross-country race that was held on Saturday, Miller came third behind South African rider Alan Hatherly and Danish rider Simon Andreassen who finished first and second respectively.

Miller was just a second behind the winner Hatherly. He was in a photo finish with Andreassen. Hatherly and Andreassen could not claim the national title as they are non-Namibian.

In the women’s category, Du Plessis won the short course race on Friday, finishing ahead of Nicola Fester and Luanne van der Schyff.

The elite cross-country women’s category held on Saturday was won by Krugel who dominated that race finishing 20 minutes ahead of Du Plessis who was in second place, and Van der Schyff who was third and 27 minutes behind the winner.

JG van der Westhuizen won the Under-23 men’s category, Kevin Lowe was crowned the Junior men’s champion, and Eden Spangenberg won the Junior women’s category.

Elvira Dickerson was the first woman to win the E-Bike cross-country category while Andre Steinfurth was the first man to win.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, Miller said it remains a privilege to defend the national title.

“Wearing the national flag is always a huge privilege. I am happy to have competed at this well-organised event and the support from the organiser was good,” he said while calling on more Namibians to take up cycling as a sport.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency