Sports
Handball League: Dynamos, Bayelsa Queens Win League
Bendel Dynamos and Bayelsa Queens at the weekend emerged winners in the male and female categories respectively of the National Division One Handball League. The championship was held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, and Edo State.
Bendel Dynamos yesterday defeated Idah Pillars 33-20 to confirm their leadership of the group in the male category, while Correctional Boys walloped Confluence Kings 33 to 20 to finish second. Both teams will now play their next league match in the premier league.
In the female category, Bayelsa Queens finished top of the table. They are joined by Delta Force girls who beat Abia Valliants to also secure promotion to the Prudent Energy Handball Premier League as runner up.
Speaking to The Tidesports source on his team’s promotion to the Prudent Energy Handball Premier League in 2023, Coach Momosani Sani Adejoh of Correctional Boys expressed delight that his boys made him proud by returning to the country’s top-flight league after three years of absence.
“I am so proud of what the boys did today and today’s performance was a result of our defeat to the host team, the Bendel Dynamos. They beat us 23 to 21 on day five of the championship, which was our only loss and we are better for it.
“In today’s fixture against Confluence Kings, my boys were on top of their game and they performed very well enough to win the game convincingly. And this is because we were anxious to win since we knew what was at stake,” he said.
The coach of the Abuja-based team added, “We last played in the premier league in 2019; that was when we were relegated to the second-tier league. We tried on three different occasions to return to the premier league, but we did not succeed. But thank God we are now back and we hope to do our best to remain there.
“Though I know that the premier league is a different ball game compared with the National League Division One, we will try our best to work on our game before then. I spoke to my sporting director about it and he has assured me that something would be done in that direction on return to Abuja,” he stated.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor