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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014
Sports
Bosso commends LMC’s desire to improve NFPL
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he Head Coach of Bayelsa United FC, Ladan Bosso, yesterday commended the League Management Company (LMC) for its desire to improve on the Globacom Premier League in 2013/14 season. He said that he wished there would not be too rigid conditions and laws for the clubs that would feature in the competition. The LMC had demanded from the 20 clubs for the new season their corporate, legal and governance attributes required for typical business practice and sports development. “We have to start from somewhere. I am glad the league is taking shape for the best but it is going to be a gradual process to make it a thorough success. “I believe the LMC means well for the clubs but I wish they can just tone down a bit on the rules as every club is trying its best,’’ he said. Bosso also said that for the league to grow there were processes involved and that change is an ongoing process which should not be rushed. “This is a transitional period for the league. Laws should be passed and obeyed; emphasis should be made not only on an area but the league as a whole,’’ he said. On Bayelsa United preparations for the 2013/2014 league, he said the team was in high spirits. “We are getting ready and anticipating the kick off of the league. We just hope the league body can come up with a favourable date,’’ Bosso said. The competition will begin in February after the ongoing Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) in South Africa at a yetto-be determined date. The LMC and club owners met yesterday in Abuja to agree on a kick off date for the new season.
Ladan Bosso
U-17 World Cup: Coach to submit provisional list to FIFA
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Stories By Albert Akota lamingoes, Coach, Bala Nikyu, yesterday said the provisional list of 30 players for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be submitted to FIFA on Jan. 31. The U-17 female national team coach said in Abuja after the team’s morning training session that currently he had 35 players in camp. The team resumed camping on
Jan 6 in preparation for the fourth Jan. edition of the U-17 Women’s World Cup. The tournament will hold in four Costa Rican cities from March 15 to April 4. “Currently, we have 35 players in camp and we will be working with them until the end of the month when we will submit the provisional list to the football world governing body. “So, after the submission, we will
drop five of the players in camp who will remain on standby in case, God forbid, something terrible happens to one of the 30 picked. “And anytime, there is need for any of them to come back, we will know who exactly to call in terms of their positions of play,’’ Nikyu said. The Flamingoes coach said the players were responding well to training compared to last week when they were new in camp.
“The players are responding well to training now compared to last week that was used as the conditioning week. “This week we intend to go into the game proper, not playing per say, but to ensure that the players understand each other. “As a player, I should know what my team mate can do and what he cannot do and we will also start to teach them the tactical aspect of the game,’’ he said.
Flamingoes
LOC pledges financial rewards to Nigeria medalist at AJTC qualifiers
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he Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Africa Junior Tennis Championship (AJTC) qualifiers Aminu Kurfi yesterday pledged N100, 000 rewards to Nigerian gold medalists. Kurfi made the pledge at the ongoing AJTC qualifiers at the National Stadium in Abuja. He said the rewards was
to encourage the players representing the country for their efforts, noting that any player that get a silver medal would get Fifty thousand naira each. “I know we have trained well and if we succeed in qualifying, personally, I will support whoever that wins a gold medal in any of the categories for Nigeria.
``I promise any gold medalist One hundred thousand naira, while any silver medalist will get fifty thousand naira. “If we are so lucky, we get all the tickets, am ready to give them this amount from my pocket, `` he said. The LOC chairman said the championship would be used as an avenue of unity among the players
by creating room for interaction. He said the players would be taken on excursion to Nigeria tourist centres to showcase the beauty of the country and its cultural heritage. Nine countries including Nigeria is participating in the third edition of the West and Central AJTC qualifiers, scheduled to hold between Jan. 12 to Jan. 20.
Keshi submits 40-man World Cup list to NFF
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he Nigeria Football Federation has demanded a 40-man list from Coach Stephen Keshi preparatory to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The NFF technical committee have asked Keshi to make available a list of players from which he will pick his final 23-man squad for the World Cup in June. “We expect the coach to send through this list at the latest after the CHAN,” a member of the committee said. It is expected that the core of this 40-man squad will come from the bulk of the players who featured at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and also qualified the country to a fifth World Cup. It is left to be seen if Keshi will recall skipper Joseph Yobo, who has seen limited action at Turkish club Fenerbache after he fell down the pecking order, and England-based striker Osaze Odemwingie. Osaze has had major fallout with Keshi after he was sensationally overlooked for the 2013 AFCON. It would also be interesting to see some of the other players Keshi is now considering for the tournament. Ukraine-based midfielder Lukman Haruna, Chinedu Obasi, Raheem Lawal and Joel Obi are believed to be among those to be given a chance to fight for a place on the flight to Brazil. Nigeria’s World Cup training camp will open on May 25 most likely in Keshi’s preferred choice of Miami in the United States of America. They take on Mexico on March 5 in a warm-up match in the United States of America.
Joseph Yobo