Category: Sports

Four Cameroon players have tested positive for COVID-19, with the Africa Cup of Nations hosts set to kick off the tournament against Burkina Faso in just over a week’s time, the country’s football federation said.

Other teams preparing for the finals, which start on Jan 9, also reported positive cases, with seven more in the Cape Verde Island squad and one for Morocco.

This adds to positive infections reported on Thursday by Algeria and the Ivory Coast, who have also been hard hit by a possible drug suspension for their first-choice goalkeeper.

Sylvain Gbohouo, who plays in Ethiopia at Wolkite City, has been provisionally suspended by FIFA after testing positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication that the World Anti-Doping Agency categorizes as a stimulant.

The announcement was made by the Ethiopian Football Federation but not confirmed by the Ivorians.

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s Eric Maxim Choupo Moting has been injured in training and is waiting to see if he can play.

The Bayern Munich player, expected to lead the attack for the hosts, suffered “a severe pain in his right knee” and underwent a scan, according to the Cameroon football federation.

It is awaiting the results, fearful that the 32-year-old striker might miss out.

Cameroon also said leading defender Michael Ngadeu Ngadjui, midfielder Pierre Kunde Malong, winger Christian Bassogog, and backup goalkeeper Jean Efala had all tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.

Cape Verde, who have been preparing for the Cup of Nations at home, had already called off a friendly match against Morocco before reporting new cases in their camp on Friday.

A statement said the infected players had been isolated but were showing no symptoms, and that just 15 players were able to train on Friday.

Morocco defender Badr Benoun, a late addition to their squad, has had to postpone plans to join teammates’ training in the United Arab Emirates after returning a positive test.

On Thursday, the Ivory Coast said players arriving from Europe at their training camp in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had tested positive and have been put in quarantine by local authorities.

Algeria earlier this week said forwards Youcef Belaili and defenders Mohamed Amine Tougai and Houcine Benyada had tested positive at their training camp in Qatar.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

YAOUNDE— African Athletics Confederation president Hamad Kalkaba Malboum has called for efforts not to let politics get in the way of sports.

“Sports is first and foremost apolitical. Sports is a means to bypass egoism so that, young people in the world could gather in one place without differences in language, race, culture. In a world wherein, we want to transmit the message of peace, a world which is habitable, political aspects should be sidelined from sports,” Malboum, who is also President of the Cameroon National Olympic and Sports Committee said in an interview on Thursday.

Athletes need to embrace sports fully and participate in the Games, he said.

“The most important thing is for the athletes to be present, even if the leaders are absent, it doesn’t stop them from taking part in the competition,” said Malboum, referring to the decision of some countries for not sending any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Malboum also praised China for the efforts deployed to host the Winter Games.

“As it usually takes four years, they (Games and athletes) should be able to surpass their potentials and achieve the desired results. As for China, I can only salute and congratulate them on the efforts deployed and for making it possible for the youths of the world. It is with the spirit they brought in gathering youths from all corners of the world that we quench adversities and promote the values of humanism. So, Bravo China,” the former skilled athlete said.

The Games will be an important occasion to express the solidarity of global society against the COVID-19 pandemic and send a positive message that humanity will overcome the pandemic through joint efforts, Malboum noted.

“We believe that the coronavirus has affected, to an extent, our daily lives. But we can’t put a stop to everything, activities have got to continue, the youth need to come together and talk about messages of peace, promote the spirit of fraternity, excellence and respect,” he said.

“So I think the pandemic is undoubtedly present but the sports sector just like any other should be revived and sustained so that the effects of the pandemic could be contained.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

The Africa Football Cup of Nations tournament is scheduled to begin January 9 at Olembe Stadium in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

On Monday, Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe visited the 60,000-seat stadium, which is still under construction less than three weeks before the opening match.

Motsepe says construction workers are improving on the stadium and he is optimistic Cameroon will be ready for the opener.

“There is a huge commitment and a focus to make sure that some of those issues that are being put in place in the next few days, good progress will be made,” he said. “My message is to Africa and to the world that the people of Cameroon are ready to show the world the best of African Football and also the best of African hospitality. It is going to be a successful AFCON, so come January 9, there must be a kickoff.”

Motsepe’s visit came amid persistent local media reports that Olembe Stadium would not be ready.

Bulldozers dug and arranged roads at the stadium entrance on Tuesday, a day after Motsepe’s visit. Several dozen young people transported and planted trees, flowers and grass that officials say will beautify the facility.

Among the workers is 35-year-old building construction engineer Luc Eloundou. Eloundou says he is not sure the entire parking lot of the stadium will be complete within a week as requested by the government of Cameroon.

“Last month we were about 1,000 people here, but now I am seeing up to 300. Workers are not coming. Why? They work without money. Some borrow money to come and work but they don’t have their salaries. The work is much, even in more than a year we will not be able to finish the work,” he said.

Jean Fradique, technical director of the stadium, says 2,000 workers have been recruited to make sure that before a joint CAF/FIFA control mission visits, the stadium is ready for the opening match.

Fradique says workers are arranging parking spaces for cars that will bring football fans, players and match officials to the stadium. He says the huge mobilization of over 2,000 workers and several hundred compactors and construction equipment within the past two months is indicative that Cameroon is bent on finalizing construction work within one week.

Stadium construction began in March 2017. The government said the facility would be ready for the 2020 AFCON. But in January 2020, the CAF postponed the tournament for a year, saying Cameroon was not ready.

The CAF moved the tournament again in January 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local media in Cameroon say between COVID-19 and construction delays, the tournament may be postponed yet again. For now, the CAF says the tournament is on.

Source: Voice of America

NEW YORK —

New York state reported Friday that just over 21,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, the highest single-day total for new cases since testing became widely available.

Just under half of the positive results were in the city, where lines were growing at testing stations, the Rockettes Christmas show was canceled for the season and some Broadway shows nixed performances because of outbreaks among cast members.

One-day snapshots of virus statistics can be an unreliable way to measure trends, but the new record punctuated a steady increase that started in the western part of the state in late October and has taken off in New York City in the past week as the omicron variant spreads.

“This is changing so quickly. The numbers are going up exponentially by day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a Friday appearance on CNN.

The steep rise in infections should be of great concern, but it was inevitable, given the quick spread of the newest variant, said Dr. Denis Nash, the executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York.

“We were already headed for a winter surge with delta, which is a very concerning thing in its own right,” Nash said.

“But then you layer on top of that the new omicron variant, which is more transmissible from an infection standpoint,” he said, noting that current vaccines may be unable to contain the “more invasive” new variant.

Statewide, New York averaged 13,257 positive tests per day over the seven-day period that ended Thursday. That is up 71% from two weeks ago.

The state’s previous one-day high for positive tests came on Jan. 14, 2021, when just under 20,000 people tested positive.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned that omicron is in “full force,” but said the city’s hospitals are “very strong and stable right now” and far better able to handle COVID-19 than when the pandemic began. Treatments have improved, and more than 70% of eligible city residents are fully vaccinated, he noted.

Source: Voice of America