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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2013
Sports
Viable league will enhance baseball, softball in Nigeria, says coach
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he Head Coach, Niger State Baseball and Softball Association (NSBSA) Ahmed Sikiru has said that the introduction of state league would enhance the development of the sport in the country. Sikiru who disclosed this yesterday, said that such a programme would reposition and popularize the sport at the grassroots. He stressed that the introduction of a state league would enhance the discovery of budding talents from every nook and cranny of the country. “There is nothing wrong if every state association can come up with a state league, to foster the growth of baseball and softball in the country. “And this is one of the measures we need to revamp and popularise the sport. “Also, more talents could be identified and nurtured to represent the country at international competitions, through a feasible league,’’ he said. He added that if the league was organised and sustained at
the state level, it would accelerate the introduction of a national league by the Nigeria Baseball and Softball Federation (NBSF). The coach, however, noted that inadequate funding had continued to restrain state associations from having a feasible league. Lagos, Kwara and Rivers currently have state leagues in place. On the recent exclusion of the sport from the forthcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Sikiru said that the development came as a surprise to everyone. He, however, said that the exclusion would not affect the growth of the sport in the country. It would be recalled that the International Olympics Committee (IOC), had on Feb. 14 contemplated dropping wresting from the 2020 edition of the Games and replacing it with either Squash or Baseball/ Softball. However, on Sept. 8, at the 125th meeting of the committee in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a decision was taken to retain wrestling as an Olympic game.
Sam Oldham and Kristian Thomas
World Championships: Oldham, Thomas, named for Antwerp after victory
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our of Great Britain’s bronze medal-winning team from London 2012 have been named for the upcoming individual World Championships in Antwerp. Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Dan Purvis will all compete from 30 September to 6 October. The quartet, together with Louis Smith, won GB men’s first Olympic team medal since a bronze in 1912. Hannah Whelan and Rebecca Tunney, who also competed at London 2012, are part of a 10-strong British line up.
Daniel Keatings, who won the European Championships pommel horse gold in April having missed the Olympics through injury, is also included along with Ashley Watson. Whitlock, individual bronze medallist in the pommel horse at London 2012, shared gold with Israel’s Alexander Shatilov on the floor at the European Championships in Moscow. Ruby Harrold, who reached the all-around, beam and uneven bars individual finals at the European Championships, and Rebecca Downie, who made the uneven bars final, completes the British contingent.
Australian horse bans for anabolic steroid
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Baseball squad
Horne angry over drug test mix-up
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uelta a Espana winner Chris Horner has missed a random drugs test, with his Radioshack team insisting testers went to the wrong hotel. Horner, 41, became the oldest Grand Tour race winner with Sunday’s victory. The American was not at his team hotel for testers yesterday, but Radioshack say he had told authorities before changing his whereabouts. Radioshack released Horner’s email telling the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) where he was. “The management of Radioshack wants to clarify the situation about the alleged missed out of competition antidoping test of Chris Horner,”
said a statement from the team. “Chris Horner updated his whereabouts with Usada before the start of the final stage, giving the agency the name of his hotel for the night, phone number and room number for his one-hour window between 6am and 7am. Horner had apparently moved to a hotel where his wife was staying. Spain’s antidoping agency (Aepsad), which had been asked to test the cyclist by Usada, could not find him. Riders must provide their whereabouts to anti-doping authorities, specifying their location for one hour each day. Missing three tests within an 18-month period triggers an investigation.
nabolic steroids are to be banned in Australian horse racing, with officials pledging zero tolerance of performance-enhancing drugs. The move comes five months after a drugs scandal in the UK highlighted anomalies in worldwide rules. Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni was banned for eight years in April for doping horses. Al Zarooni claimed to be unaware that use of anabolic steroids was prohibited out of competition in Britain. In the spring, with racing
numbed by the Godolphin revelations, few could see many benefits coming out of racing’s biggest ever doping scandal. But what it did do was to highlight the inconsistencies in drugs rules around the racing world, so the one ray of light was that perhaps it might be a catalyst to changes in that area. In Dubai, the ruler, Godolphin’s owner Sheikh Mohammed, made those reforms, but the feeling was that the Australians might stand firm. However, they are to be applauded for this news.
Now the spotlight swings onto the US where organisers of the Breeders Cup have recently backtracked on plans for a complete ban on the medication Lasix at the prestigious Breeders Cup fixture. Godolphin founder Sheikh Mohammed later banned the use of all performance-enhancing steroids in equine sports in the UAE. The Australian Racing Board (ARB) says its ban will take effect from 1 May 2014 and apply to all thoroughbreds from the age of six months.
IPL: Hales confident of playing at Nottinghamshire
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ngland Twenty20 star Alex Hales is hopeful of playing in next season’s Indian Premier League after initial talks with his team, Nottinghamshire. Hales was barred by the county from taking part in 2013 because it clashed with the start
Alex Hales
of the English season. But he expects permission to enter the next IPL player auction in February. Hales rose to the top of the ICC T20 batting rankings after scoring 94 against Australia in August, his sixth fifty in 21
England innings. He scored 89 off 52 balls on his debut for Melbourne Renegades in the 2012-13 Big Bash, Australia’s domestic T20 league. But he has struggled in firstclass cricket this season and was dropped for Nottinghamshire’s draw with Middlesex last week. English players who are contracted by counties or the England and Wales Cricket Board are often less attractive to IPL franchises because they are unable to play a full season. Nottinghamshire blocked all their players from taking any part in last season’s competition, while England batsman Matt Prior and all-rounder Ravi Bopara both went unsold for the second year in a row.