Category: Sports

Robber Chanties versus Khaibasen PST Bet preliminary round match will be completed behind closed doors on Wednesday, Kunene Football League officials have confirmed.

League administrator, Bola Nangombe, stated in a statement on Wednesday that the game will determine the region’s champion, to face African Stars in the round 32 of the PST Bet Namibia Football Association (NFA) cup.

Two weeks earlier, Robber Chanties were leading 1-0 at the Etoshapoort stadium in Outjo on a Sunday evening when the game was abandoned in the 68th minute after fans of dissatisfied Khaibasen came onto the pitch in retaliation for the referees’ alleged refereeing errors, bringing the game to an end.

Some of the players were reportedly involved in a fist fight, resulting in the league ‘s administration abandoning the game.

According to Nangombe, the match will now be conducted under severe security conditions, with no fans allowed at the stadium.

‘No fans will be allowed in the stadium. That means the match will be played under t
his strict regulation and supporters are only allowed to be in the radius of 500 meters outside the stadium due to security reasons,’ noted Nangombe.

He also urged the management of both teams to maintain discipline and follow security guidelines in order to prevent embarrassment and bring the names of PST Bet, NFA, and KFL into disrepute.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Addis Ababa: The government of Ethiopia has been implementing various homegrown initiatives with a view to mitigate the impacts of climate change and ensure food security of the people, Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente remarked.

The minister made the remark at the opening of High-Level Side Event on the margins of the 14th Session of the African Risk Capacity Conference of Parties in Addis Ababa.

The High-Level Panel aims to convene a diverse array of stakeholders, including policymakers, executives and representatives and experts of continental institutions to share lessons, build on existing strengths, and address the multifaceted challenges that the African food system faces.

The meeting will also addresses the interlinkages between climate change and food systems for food security, and resilience in Africa by fostering dialogue and knowledge exchange on climate-smart agricultural practices, technologies, and policies as well as resilience building efforts that enhance food security while mitigating
climate change impacts.

Attempting to identify Africa’s major opportunities and challenges in implementing climate-smart solutions and resilience building efforts at national, regional, and continental levels is also the other objetive.

Ethiopia’s Agriculture Minister Girma Amente said on the occasion that despite Africa is endowed with immense resources vital to ensuring food security; the continent has still been suffering from the harsh impacts of natural and manmade disasters.

However, he said Ethiopia is exerting efforts in order to alleviate the negative impacts of climate change and ensure food security in the country by implementing various homegrown development initiatives.

The minister mentioned the ongoing Green Legacy Initiative which has so far enabled the nation plant more than 32.5 billion tree seedlings stating that the objective is to reach 50 billion at the end of 2026.

The initiative is playing critical role in increasing the forest coverage of the country, he added.

The Minister has
also shared Ethiopia’s success registered in wheat development program that was initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pointing out the national wheat irrigation development currently underway on 3 million hectares of land across the country.

Girma said Ethiopia is sharing its success being registered in wheat development to other African countries.

Ethiopia has also been implementing National Food System Roadmap with view to successfully achieve efforts being carried out to ensure food security, the minister stated.

He called on African nations to strengthen cooperation in order to fight the impacts of climate change and food insecurity.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Addis Ababa: Africa is making progress in 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but the current pace of progress is insufficient to achieve the goals by 2030, according to an experts report on the progress on Africa Sustainable Development.

The report launched ahead of the 10th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia indicates that progress on the SDG agendas varies across sub-regions.

The report was produced by a team of experts convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with African Union Commission, the United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Africa (UNDP-RBA), and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

On the occasion, the Deputy Executive Secretary for Programme Support at the ECA, Antonio Pedro underlined the lack of robust data as a major hurdle in tracking progress accurately. Improving data systems to effectively monitor and achieve the SDGs is essential, he stressed.

‘Addressin
g wide-ranging challenges-including social, political, environmental, and economic-is essential; specific focus areas like women’s empowerment, peacebuilding, and security need targeted attention,’ said Pedro, stressing the need to take advantage of technological advances, including artificial intelligence, to target interventions and achieve the SDGs with greater efficiency.

He said there is need to foster domestic resource mobilization through evolving a better and innovative tax system. Countries need to improve institutional governance, strengthen data collection, analysis and reporting and devise better strategies for debt restructuring.

Africa still accounts for over half (54.8 Percent) of global poverty. Particular attention therefore needs to be paid to addressing child poverty – the number of children living in extremely poor households, as about 7 out of 10 poor children live in Africa. In addition, lack of access to clean water, sanitation, energy, health, and education services coupled with ineq
uality, infrastructure gaps, climate change, ethnic conflicts and limited employment opportunities are among the key drivers of poverty in Africa.

On climate financing, the progress report shows the high climate financing gap in Africa. A large chunk of these resources emanates from public sector compared to private sector climate financing.

‘Issues of policies on carbon market, debt for climate swaps, and carbon tax on natural resources, as well as the establishment of national sustainable financial framework for climate change should be addressed,’ says the report.

The surge in debt across African countries is impeding Africa’s development, as debt servicing costs crowd out resources for social spending.

There has also been limited donor support for capacity building; on average, African countries spend a trivial 0.5 percent of GDP on science, technology, and innovation.

To bridge the gap and ensure that the continent achieves the SDG goals by 2030, the report recommends investing in data and capacity,
integrating different data sources, developing new and alternate indicators, identifying new partners with tools and solutions such as the private sector, NGOs/CSO and academia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

OPUWO: Omaheke United and Opuwo-based Extreme Tutorials netball club clinched the football and netball categories of the second edition of the Opuwo Mayoral Cup on Sunday.

The tournament featured 24 football and seven netball teams, with four in the tag-of-war category and six in the Legends football division.

Speaking after the final game on Sunday, Kunene regional governor Maruis Sheya commended the tournament organisers for putting on an exceptional showpiece that went off without a hitch. Such events, he noted are important as they keep the youth together and from engaging in illegal activities while growing grassroots sports.

‘The efforts of the mayor are seen, including the impact on sports is felt on the ground, therefore let’s grow this collectively,’ he noted.

The spectators were treated to an exciting final in the netball category, with two teams from the same unit competing in the final game, where Extreme Tutorials reigned supreme after edging their counterparts Opuwo Extreme Dreamers and walk
ing away with N.dollars 10,000. The runner-up pocketed N.dollars N.dollars 5 000, Opuwo Rebels and NamWater received N.dollars 2 500 each for their efforts as semi-final losers.

The host, Opuwo Town Council (OTC) B-team, won the tag-of-war category, defeating NamWater’s B-team and went away with N.dollars 2 500, while Namwater-B received N.dollars 1000.

The semi-finalists, NamWater A and OTC A, both settled for N.dollars 800.

Ruacana Legends won the legends football category by defeating Onjose Jongua 1-0 in the final, collecting N.dollars 5000; Onjose Jongua Legends got N.dollars 2500; while Opuwo Legends and OTC equally shared N.dollars 2500 as semi-final losers.

The football category witnessed some delightful encounters in the semi-final round, notably the game between Omaheke United and Kunene Namibian Police (NamPol), in which Omaheke won 4-0 on penalties after a goalless draw in normal time.

Opuwo United failed to capitalise on their home advantage, losing to Power Boys in a 4-3 penalty shootout af
ter a 1-1 draw in regulation time.

The final saw the boys from Omaheke dominate play and put the game away in the 70th minute with a magnificent free kick to win the trophy and N.dollars 30 000. Power Boys won N.dollars 15 000 as the runner-up, while Opuwo United and Kunene NamPol lost in the semi-finals to home N.dollars 5 000.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: Namibia’s rider Alex Miller and South Africa’s Lilian Baber were on Saturday crowned champions of the Nedbank Namibia Rock and Rut Cross Country (XC1) championships on Saturday.

Over 140 local and international cyclists competed in the championship held at the IJG Trails in Kleine Kuppe.

The cyclists scored International Cycling Union (UCI) points during the event. The Namibia Cycling Federation (NCF) and Rock and Rut jointly organised the second round of the Nedbank XC series, which comprises five races.

Miller and Barber were on the day in a class of their own dominating their respective categories. Miller finished the seven-round laps of the almost five-kilometre-metre circuit in one hour 28 minutes, and eight seconds (01:28:08).

He was a minute and 33 seconds ahead of fellow Namibian Kevin Lowe, who finished second (01:29:41), while South African rider Michael Foster came third almost three minutes behind Miller in a time of 01:30:50.

Meanwhile, in the elite women’s category Barber dominate
d her field finishing the five laps in a time of 01:20:30 seven minutes ahead of second-placed Zimbabwean rider Stacey Hyslop who completed her race in a time of 01:27:30. The last podium position went to Namibian rider Jean-Marie Mostert, who was eight minutes behind the winner (01:28:58).

In the Junior XCO race, Namibian Junior Men’s Cyclist, Roger Suren, and Junior Women’s Cyclist, Delsia Janse van Vuuren, emerged victorious, after brilliant races at their home circuit.

South African rider Omar Alexander Wilson came second in the junior men’s category in a photo finish with Suren while in the women’s category South African rider Carla Jansen van Vuuren finished second almost two minutes behind the winner.

In an interview with the media after the race, Miller said he had a good time on the track and is looking forward to next week where he will once more attempt to defend his national mountain bike title.

‘This was a good race as we had several international riders which made it exciting. I am now looki
ng forward to the cross-country national champion this coming weekend where I will be trying to defend my national title,’ he said.

Miller, who now rides for South African team Toyota Specialized added that he is looking forward to his European tour after the national championships as he prepares for the upcoming Olympics.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Nigerian youths gaming addiction, especially football betting, has become source of worrisome to many parents, community leaders and others charged with the responsibility of grooming the young people into adulthood.

Nowadays, young Nigerians, on a daily basis, are seen at betting centres placing all kinds of bet on various football matches, sports personalities and sporting activities.

While many do it as a form of fun, others see it as means of putting food on their table.

However, whatever is the reason behind it, many observers say youth addiction to betting should be a source of concern to the society. Among adults, the challenge is betting addiction.

Approximately 66 per cent of Nigerians, according to data, have placed bets on a sporting event at least once in their lives. Online gaming is extremely popular and expanding quickly”, says Betblog.

‘Revenue in (Nigeria’s) Online Sports Betting market is projected to reach US$294.20m in 2024. Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 6.45%,
resulting in a projected market volume of US$402.20m by 2029”, according to Statista

Mr Magnus Ekechukwu, Deputy Director Public Affairs National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) says the commission is against underage participation in any lottery gaming.

Ekechukwu explained that the commission’s rules and law only permits people from 18 years and above to indulge in gaming, adding that the commission is also frowned at gaming addiction among even adults.

‘Our law does not encourage underage game, gaming starts from age 18.

‘The national lottery Act frowns at underage gaming, it’s in our law and the regulations of 2017 as amended and it has always been part of the guidelines given to the operators’, he said.

He said the commission, as part of measures to discourage betting addition and juvenile betting periodically undertakes campaigns in the media to educate the public on betting rules and regulation.

‘The commission conducts checks on betting centres and, the guidelines the operators have directs
them to only attend to people who are 18 years and above in any form of lottery and gaming.

‘Also, the commission has been engaging in media campaigns through jingles against this underage gaming ‘, he said.

On addiction among adults, he said the commission had instructed the operators under what he called ‘Responsible Gaming’, to advise their clients or shut addicts out of their platforms.

‘Addiction comes under what we call ‘Responsible Gaming’, so what we try to do is to direct our operators to also advise their players.

‘If somebody is trying to put a certain amount and have the particular pattern of taking huge money into games very frequently, operators have the responsibility to probably shut the person off the platform.

‘It should also investigate why such people are trying to spend so much on gaming or lottery or betting.

‘So that way, they help to check people who are excessively indulging in betting, so that’s one of the ways to check responsible gaming,’ Ekechukwu said.

According to him, th
ere are sanctions by the commission on violators of rules among lottery operators.

‘There are sanctions from the commission against the operators who violate the rules on underage gaming; it is something that the commission takes very seriously.’

Mr Layi Onafowokan, Managing Director, National Lottery Nigeria, said several factors such as economic hardship, unemployment, social pressures and peer influence, emotional escapism, and lack of awareness could push Nigerians to the act.

On measures to curtail this, Onafowokan said, was dialogue and collaboration with stakeholders, media, regulators, and the public could create a safer and more responsible gaming environment for everyone,

‘It is important to acknowledge that while some Nigerian youths are drawn to betting, not all are addicted to it.

‘As Managing Director of National Lottery Nigeria, I understand the concerns surrounding betting addiction and its potential effects on our younger generation.

‘While National Lottery Nigeria operates ethically an
d responsibly within the legal framework, I believe tackling this challenge requires a collective effort’, he said.

Similarly, Mr Kenneth Pius, Manager BET9ja, said his betting firm was very strict in its operations as it would not in any way, allow persons less than 18 years into the betting premises.

Pius said that allowing young people below 18 years to participate in gaming is against the NLRC’s guiding rules.

‘Based on the order from lottery commission, we don’t allow any child who is not up to 18 into this premises, let alone participating in betting games.’

According to him, the commission officials and even policemen visit their centres periodically to check their activities and ensure compliance to the laws guiding the gaming sector.

On addiction by adults, Kenneth said betting is a choice, adding that it was gamers, adults in particular, should control their appetite towards it.

Mrs Comfort Amah, a parent, explained that it was lack of jobs that pushed most Nigerians into gambling with the hop
e of making quick money.

Amah, nevertheless, advised youths to focus on their education, adding that they have more chances to make money in future after their education.

‘It is a painful thing to me whenever I see these little ones who are supposed to be in school to study and even those who claim they are students hanging around betting premises.

‘They are too young to be desperate for quick money”, she said.

Mr Samuel Ndubisi, another parent, said Nigerians take to gambling due to lack of reasonable things to do or to invest to make money for a living.

‘The main reason is because there’s no job in Nigeria. When there’s no job obviously youths will go into betting because it is like a game where they hope to get money from there.

‘It is a way of living for many youths. When you invest small money like N50 for example and win up to N20, 000, you will be motivated to invest more in it.

‘That`s one of the major reasons they are addicted to it, ‘ she said.

Ndubisi urged the government to intervene by p
roviding better job opportunities and more skills acquisition centres for youths, adding that strict regulation of the industry would minimise addiction among adults.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria