Governing Bodies
NIGERIA, MOROCCO, EGYPT SECURE TAEKWONDO OLYMPIC TICKETS ON OPENING DAY
Six countries, including hosts Morocco and Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria, secured Olympic tickets for Tokyo 2020 Olympics on the opening day of the on-going African Qualification Tournament for the taekwondo event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, holding on 22nd and 23 February 2020.
The spread of the medals acutely reflects the difficulty and competitiveness of the Olympic qualification process, as well of spread of taekwondo development across the African continent.
Morocco and Egypt secured two Olympic tickets each while the remaining four tickets were won by Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon.
In the female -49kg, the number one and two seed, Egypt’s Nour Abdelsalam and Morocco’s El Boutchi, lived up by expectations to emerge as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.
In the female -67kg, current African Champion and the number one seed, Egypt’s Malak Hedaya joined the number three seed, Nigeria’s Elizabeth Anyanacho as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.
In the male -58kg, the number one seed Morocco’s Omar Lakehal and Ethiopia’s Solomon Demse emerged as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.
In the male +80kg, number two seed Cote d’Ivoire’s Seydou Gbane joined Gabon’s Anthony Obame to emerge as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.
Day two will see battle in the remaining four Olympic weight categories, including male -68kg, male -80kg, female -57kg and female +67kg.
Current African Champion, Nigeria’s Chinazum Nwosu and Nigeria Open gold medalist, Ifeoluwa Ajayi will be representing Nigeria in the female -57kg and male -68kg respectively.
105 athletes from 35 countries are currently battling for 16 Olympic tickets for the world’s most prestigious sporting event, with 8 of those Olympic tickets already earned on day one of the qualification tournament.
For the Taekwondo event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there are a total of 128 slots available to be secured – 120 for qualification places, 4 for the hosts – Japan and 4 Tripartite Commission Invitation Places.
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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As major global sporting events beckon, Morocco’s monarch launches the Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed rail project
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Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
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