Sports
Royal Hoopers Retain DStv Men’s Basketball League Title
Royal Hoopers of Port-Harcourt, the defending champions, DStv Men’s Basketball League, on Saturday in Lagos successfully retained their title at the end of 2011/2012 season.
Hoopers defeated former three-time champions of the league, Kano Pillars, 62-51 at the final to retain its title.
Fans at the In-door Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, venue of the competition, were thrilled to an exciting final match.
The defending champions took the first two quarters of the final match at 19-17 and 19-10 respectively.
Pillars however rallied from behind in the third set to narrowly claim the set at 11-10.
Hoopers mustered courage in the fourth and last quarter and also narrowly took the set at 14-13 to emerge the champions.
Dodan Warriors of Lagos defeated Lagos slanders 78-71 to emerge the third placed winners.
Hoopers went home with a cash prize of N1 million and a trophy, Pillars took N750,000, while Warriors received N500,000 and with a trophy each.
Pillars Adele Ademola emerged the highest re-bounder, Hoopers Kingsley Aguara was named the MVP, while Abubakar of Usman also of Pillars was the highest scorer.
The champions and runners-up would represent Nigeria at the Africa Club Championship later in the year.
Coach Ogoh Odaudu of Hoopers expressed delight on his team’s successful defense of its title.
“Our defense has finally confirmed us as the real champion, it was a rough start from the beginning but we are able to retain our title with determination,” Odaudu said.
He said that the club was faced with some financial challenges during the regular season which accounted for their low performance at the beginning of the season.
“I am happy we overcame the problems that affected our performance during the regular season. Thank God we are able to retain our title.
“It was not an easy fight to get to the final and win the title, because every team at the Final Eight is a potential winner,” Odaudu said.
Coach Ibrahim Maku of Pillars blamed their loss on too many mistakes made by his player during the final match adding that it was also a bad day for his team.
Maku who described Hoopers as a good team added that the winners made good use of every opportunity to make good basket.
The coach denounced insinuation that the ongoing fasting affected his players’ performance noting that his players after all won their preliminary and semi-final matches fasting.
The Kenya Football Federation (FKF) has launched an investigation into allegations that goalkeeper Patrick Matasi has been involved in match manipulation.
The 37-year-old, who plays for Kenyan Premier League club Kakamega Homeboyz, has won over 30 international caps.
His most recent appearance for the Harambee Stars came in October last year, in a qualifier for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
An undated video posted online appears to show Matasi agreeing a deal to influence the outcome of a league game.
“I have spoken to him. He was also shocked at what he was seeing in the video and he told me he doesn’t know about match-fixing,” Homeboyz owner Cleophas Shimanyula told Tidesports source .
The FKF said it would work with world governing body Fifa, the Confederation of African Football and other “relevant authorities” during its investigation.
“We reaffirm our zero-tolerance policy on match manipulation and are committed to safeguarding the credibility of our competitions,” a statement added.
“This investigation will adhere to FKF’s anti-match manipulation regulations and Fifa guidelines, ensuring a fair, transparent, and thorough process.
“The rights of the player and his club will be respected, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings.”
Shimanyula backed Matasi, pointing to the fact the veteran has kept three clean sheets in as many games since joining the club a month ago.
“When we watched this video, we found that Matasi has not wronged the club,” he said.
“In a video there can misinterpretations and false narratives and we cannot trust everything.
“He will keep playing for us because there’s no wrongdoing on his part as far as we are concerned – unless there’s evidence or the FKF writes to us to say they are suspecting the player of some wrongdoing.
“He is innocent until proven guilty and then we will act.”
The FKF has called on anyone with credible information to assist its investigation, with any reports to be handled with strict confidentiality.
Shimanyula also challenged the Kenyan footballing community to provide evidence against Matasi.
“Kakamega Homeboyz is against any form of match manipulation,” he said.
Uefa has opened an investigation into allegations of indecent conduct by four Real Madrid players during their Champions League last-16 win against Atletico Madrid.
Antonio Rudiger, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Dani Ceballos allegedly made gestures towards the home fans after Real Madrid beat their city rivals on penalties to book their place in the quarter-finals.
TV pictures showed German defender Rudiger appearing to make a throat-slitting motion, apparently towards the crowd after the shootout victory, while Mbappe was shown seemingly making a crotch-grabbing gesture.
Spanish media said Atletico reported the actions to Uefa last week.
The players could be at risk of suspension but there is no guarantee the case will be heard before their quarter-final with Arsenal. The first leg for that tie is at Emirates Stadium on 8 April and the return leg a week later.
In a statement, Uefa said: “[An] ethics and disciplinary inspector has been appointed to investigate allegations of indecent conduct” made by the four Real Madrid players.
“Further information regarding this matter will be made available in due course.”
The Premier League has announced it will have two transfer windows this summer to allow Manchester City and Chelsea to sign players before the Club World Cup.
The window will open between Sunday, 1 June and Tuesday, 10 June, then close for five days before running again from Monday, 16 June until Monday, 1 September.
This summer features the first expanded Fifa Club World Cup, which involves 32 teams and adopts the format of the regular World Cup of the past few years.
Chelsea and Manchester City are the Premier League teams in the tournament which takes place in the United States from Sunday, 15 June.
But the Premier League can only have 12 weeks of a summer window – hence the five-day break in order to run it until 1 September.
Fifa has allowed new players to be registered for the Club World Cup from 1-10 June, and again from 27 June-3 July for the knockout stage.
This is happening firstly, to bring order to the global registration system, world governing body Fifa only permits the transfer window in any individual country to be open for 16 weeks in any calendar year.
In Europe, precedent dictates four of those weeks are for the winter window, leaving 12 in the summer. In 2024, the Premier League transfer window opened on 14 June and closed on 30 August.