Governing Bodies
OLYMPIC FLAME ARRIVE TOKYO BY AIR ON MARCH 20
A special aircraft will transport the Olympic Flame to Tokyo next year, with an arrival ceremony due to be held on March 20.
The Olympic Flame will be lit at Ancient Olympia on March 12, with a week-long Torch Relay then held in Greece.
The Flame will be handed over to Tokyo 2020 with a ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on March 19.
Tokyo 2020 has now announced a special aircraft bearing the name “Tokyo 2020 Go” will transport the Olympic Flame to Japan.
The aircraft will land at the JASDF Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture on March 20.
Japanese Olympic stars Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida have been given the honour of delivering the Flame.
Nomura is the only judoka to have won three straight Olympic gold medals, in the men’s under 60-kilogram event at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.
Yoshida clinched three consecutive gold medals in wrestling, before winning a silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The now retired wrestler also carried the Olympic Flag back from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo
“When I brought back the Olympic flag from Rio de Janeiro as captain of the Japanese Olympic delegation, my heart swelled with pride knowing that Tokyo’s turn was coming,” Yoshida said.
“I retired from wrestling afterwards, and it is now such an honour for me to fulfil this important role in bringing back the Olympic Flame from Greece.
“I will be readying myself for it.
“The Olympic Flame, a symbol of the Olympics, will traverse Japan, carrying with it the hopes and dreams of not only the Tokyo 2020 Olympians but those of all the people.
“I think it’s a fitting tribute that the Olympic flame brought back from Greece will commence its journey through Japan at Fukushima.
“I hope to run with the flame at some stage, and look forward to witnessing the moment the Olympic cauldron is lit in the Olympic Stadium.”
The two athletes will be joined by representatives of Tokyo 2020 at the handover ceremony in Athens.
Local children from Ishinomaki city, Higashi-matsushima city and Onagawa-cho in Miyagi Prefecture will welcome the Olympic Flame at the arrival ceremony.
They will escort the Flame onto the stage where a celebration cauldron will be lit, followed by speeches from Tokyo 2020 officials and guests.
A model of the aircraft commissioned to transport the Flame to Japan will also be unveiled.
Tokyo 2020 say the artwork on the side of the plane reflects the Olympic Torch concept “Hope Lights Our Way” and depicts the journey of the Olympic Torch Relay.
The artwork will feature a torchbearer pictogram on the front of the aircraft, followed by an ochre-coloured emblem along the side of the plane to the Olympic Torch relay emblem on the tail.
The name of the aircraft—TOKYO 2020 Go—incorporates the Japanese word “号”, the suffix used for the numbering of trains, buses and aircraft.
This also has a similar pronunciation to the English “Go!”, implying the start of a journey.
The overall name is intended to reflect the plane’s mission to deliver the Flame to the Olympic Games.
The Torch Relay will visit some of the areas worst affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
After the arrival of the Olympic Flame, the Torch Relay will begin with visits to the Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures.
The Flame will visit all 47 prefectures of Japan in the build-up to the Opening Ceremony on July 24.
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
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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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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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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