Governing Bodies

Nigeria’s top table tennis stars get June 12 date

Published

4 years ago

June 9, 2021

The best table tennis players across the country will converge in Lagos on June 12 to share from the N1.2m purse for the one-day Lagos Top 16 Invitational Challenge taking place at Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The selected players were considered for the one-day tournament following their performance from the last three national tournaments including the 20th National Sports Festival held in Benin, in Edo State.

The championship sponsored by Renewed Hope, Lagos is aimed to excite table tennis fans in Lagos who are always eager to cheer the players.

Sponsor of the tournament and Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), Gafar Bolowotan believes the excitement generated at the 2021 National Championship prompted him to bankroll the tournament with the aim to unearth new talents as well as encourage healthy rivalry among the players

Backed by LSSC and organized by the Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) with technical support from the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), players are expected to arrive on Friday, June 11 for the tournament with the draw scheduled to hold the same day in readiness for the competition the next day.

The competitors made up of 16 men and 16 women will be drawn into four groups of four players in each group with the top two advancing to the next stage where the remaining eight will be drawn into two groups of four players each. The top two from the second stage advance to the semifinal of the championships.

Fatimo Bello of G20 will be staking her unbeaten run in the last three tournaments as she has been dominating the women’s division in the country but she has to contend with her arch-rival Bose Odusanya of Lagos who will be relying on home support this time.

Amadi Omeh, Azeez Solanke and Rilwan Akanbi are champions in the last three tournaments and they will be up against one another again alongside U-21 national champion Taiwo Mati who is aiming to claim his first senior title.

Also, World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Youth Contender silver medalist Usman Okanlawon, as well as national cadet champion Samuel Boboye, will be up against their senior counterparts in what could be described as the battle of the best in the country.

Governing Bodies

Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council

Published

12 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.

The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.

Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.

He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.

An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.

He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.

“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”

Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.

“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.

He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.

“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.

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Governing Bodies

Ex-FIFA Council member and Mali football chief released from jail

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.

Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.

He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.

The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.

He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.

Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.

While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.

-Reuters

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Governing Bodies

Nigeria Football Federation denies owing late national captain and coach, Chukwu

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.

Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.

Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.

“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.

“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”

Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.

“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”

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