Sports
COAS Shooters Beat Delta Force In HandBall League
The relatively-experienced Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Shooters Handball Club, on Wednesday defeated debutants, Delta Force 34-25 in the female competition at the ongoing Prudent Energy Handball Premier League.
This victory has now taken COAS to 10 points from four matches while their Asaba-based opponents were left with five points from three matches.
Both teams appeared to be on the same level of strength when the game at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja started, but the difference soon became obvious
As the match progressed, the Delta Force players could do little to scare the very experienced COAS team.
Team Captain Samora Samuel did most of the damage, being very ruthless and dismantling the defence of her opponents.
She ensured her team built a huge wall to restrain their opponents and limit them to fewer goals.
Ten minutes to the end of the game, Delta Force Goalkeeper Rockson Eneziakpo was awarded a red card.
She had moved away from the nine metres arc to thwart a goalscoring opportunity, only to collide with an opponent.
As expected, Shooters snatched victory and Samuel is optimistic her team will compete favourably for the trophy.
“I keep encouraging my players on the need to be focused and for us to continue winning. Even if we are down in points, I try to encourage them not to relent.
“ If we maintain this momentum, we can win the league,” Samuel said.
On her part, Theodora Iyorger praised the performance of her team against a better side.
“This is the first time the players are playing in this league. They have shown strength and fought hard. I appreciate them.
“ We still have about eight matches more, but our aim is to remain in the league. I hope that we will be able to fight for it,” she said.
In some of the other matches played, Rima Strikers defeated Confluence Stars 32-27 while Benue Queens lost 16-28 to Imo Grasshoppers in the female category.
The league which has 12 male teams and 10 female teams in action began on October 31 and is expected to end on November 13.
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