Sports
AAG: Nigeria Sustains Dominance in Women Sprints …Moves To 2nd Position
Nigeria underlined her dominance of African women sprints on Monday in Maputo, Mozambique as three of her athletes swept the medals in the 100 metres at the 10th All-Africa Games.
Tidesports gathered that the trio of Damola Osayemi, Blessing Okagbare and Gloria Asume clinched the medals at stake to restate the country’s position in the event.
Osayemi ran the race in 10.9 seconds to win the gold medal, and dethroned her compatriot and African champion, Okagbare.
The U.S.-based Okagbare followed closely with a time of 11.01 seconds for the silver, while Asume took the bronze with a time of 11.26 seconds.
The men’s 100 metres race, however, had Amr Seoud of Egypt winning the gold in 10.2 seconds while Ben Youssef of Cote d’Ivoire finished second with a time of 10.28 seconds.
Nigeria’s Obinna Metu was right behind him to take the bronze medal with 10.29 seconds.
Doreen Amata of Nigeria also won gold in high jump after leaping over 1.88 metres, while her compatriot Agnes Osasuwa took the silver with a jump of 1.80 metres.
Nigeria’s Tosin Oke also won gold in the triple jump with a distance of 16.65 metres.
In the 110 metres hurdles, Nigeria’s Samuel Okon and Salim Nurudeen also won the silver and bronze medals respectively while Algeria’s Hadji Lasib took the gold.
Meanwhile, journalists covering the 10th All Africa Games here in Maputo have not been having it easy as organisers continue to demonstrate a very high level of incompetence.
From discrepancies in results of events to the non-release of daily medal table, the confusion makes it almost impossible for journalists to have a good picture of the performances of various contingents.
This has made some adventurous news reporters to send home unauthenticated medal tables, based on conjectures.
Till the time of filing in this report, the final result of the men’s100 meters final was still shrouded in controversy as two results emerged yesterday after the race. While the first version had Egypt’s Amir Ibrahim winning the gold, Nigeria’s Oghene Egwero and compatriot Obinna Metu in second and third positions respectively, the latest result reconfirmed Egypt’s Amir Ibrahin Seoud gold medal with a time of 10.20 secs and the silver medal to Ben Yusuf of Ivory Coast (10.28 secs) while Obinna Metu(10.29 secs) retained the bronze.
It could be recalled that Nigeria’s Iworima Otonye, competing in the Women’s Tripple Jump event, had her gold medal nullified after the Confederation of African Athletics had faulted the conduct of the event by “incompetent technical officials.” A faulty jump was said to have earned her the gold and the medal was withdrawn when other countries protested. Nigeria appealed and got a judgment ordering a repeat of the final event.
However, Track and Field has lifted Nigeria to the second position, at the conclusion of events last night. Athletics had garnered up to 7 gold medals. Nigeria won the 4X100m relay in the men and women events shortly after Seun Adigun won the 100m Hurdles.
“It is good that Track and Field is doing well but I know that we could have done better,” Athletics
Federation boss, Solomon Ogba said. The quartet of Agnes Osazuwa, Gloria Asumo, Demola Osayemi and Blessing Okagbare won gold for Nigeria in the 4×100 meters relay. They dusted their opponents in a time of 43 secs to bag gold.
Nigeria’s impressive showing in athletics continued with yet another gold medal in the men’s 4×100 relay as the quartet of Benjamin Adukwu, Peter Emelieze, Obinna Metu won the gold. Gloria Deborah also won gold in the partially sighted 200 meters event.
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.