Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 — 61
Keshi’s suit: NFF confirms notice
Oliseh picks U-23 stars for Tanzania clash W
IN or lose in Congo on Sunday, several Nigeria U23 stars are already part of the plans of new Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh. The U23 stars include Italy-based Stanley Amuzie, FC Taraba skipper Usman M o h a m m e d , Oghenekaro Etebo from War ri Wolves and Enyimba midfielder Kingsley Sokari. Left-back Amuzie, who only recently moved to Italian Serie A side Sampdoria, posted an e y e - c a t c h i n g performance when the U23s beat Congo 2-1 in Port Harcourt earlier this month. He was solid in
defence and showed class going forward to join the attack. “Even before Amuzie was mentioned to him, Oliseh already has the player on his list,” said a top source. Usman Mohammed, Etebo and Sokari will most certainly be called to a training camp for home-based stars later in August. And should they then impress, they will be on the squad for a 2017 AFCON qualifier in Tanzania. “The home-based Eagles camp in August will afford the players from the league to prove they are good enough for the main Super Eagles squad. Those who prove this will be on the flight to Tanzania,” a top team official revealed.
U-23 star, Oghenekero (l) on Oliseh's radar
Eaglets undergo MRI test BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja
A
S part of efforts to ensure that the national U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets is free of every trace of age falsification and excel at the forthcoming FIFA U17 championship taking place in Chile in October, the Nigeria Football Federation last week
•Amuneke
decided to carry out a mandatory Magnetic resonate Imaging (MRI) test on all the players already in camp. A reliable source at the federation who pleaded anonymity told Sports Vanguard in Abuja that the decision may not be unconnected to the poor outing of the team at the African version of the tournament which was staged in Niger earlier in the year. The Emmanuel Amuneke tutored side against all expectations only managed to pick one of the continental tickets to the world cup after the team lost out on the trophy zone. The result had caused a lot of criticism but our source argued that the team did well to qualify for the world cup because the
Oliseh
Continues from BP clarifications saying, “Of course these applies to field players because goalkeepers are a different breed as we call them.” He continued: “And there could be some exception for players who are excelling in the second division”. He said the basis for their decision is, “the players in the first division are used to a C M Y K
certain level, tempo and competition standards because of what the first division entails. “And because of that, we need the best who are already used to playing at this tempo to serve and play for Nigeria. “Also players that are already in the national fold – from the U-17 to the U-23 are also exempted from the first division rules,” he said.
late MRI test forced many first team players out of the championship. “The NFF is being proactive this time ahead of the world cup and I think that is the right step to take because unknown to many people, before the last African championship in Niger, the MRI test caught up with most of the players who were in camp and that forced Amuneke to do a fire brigade approach to recruit more player for that championship.
D
OLPHINS Basketball club of Lagos at the weekend, out-dunked the defending champions, First Bank of Lagos 77-72 in the final of the 11th Zenith bank Women Basketball Championship held at the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos. The champions carted home the Zenith Bank giant trophy as well as pocketed the N1.2m star prize. First Bank team, (The Elephant Girls’) that couldn’t withstand the fireworks of the
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have confirmed they have received a letter from lawyers of sacked Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi demanding for a billion Naira compensation from the NFF for defamation. A top NFF official, who did not want his name in print, confirmed to AfricanFootball.com:”We have received the notification. “But we did not get it directly. We got it from the National Sports Commission. “I don’t think it’s something we should be discussing, but I can confirm that we have
•Keshi received the letter addressed to us through the National Sports Commission.” Last week, it was reported that Keshi had dragged the NFF to court for “ wrongful dismissal and defamation”.
Zenith Bank promises better female Basketball League Dolphins Queens got N1M for placing second plus the silver trophy attached. The third position went to former champions, First Deepwater that out dunked the Police Queens 53-43 in the losers final. The winner of the third place match got N .5m. Dolphins who are financed by Wale Aboderin also remained undefeated throughout
the championship, starting from the first and second phases held in Abuja and Ilorin. Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Peter Amangbo has commended all the teams that took part at this year ’s championship, promising that the 12th edition which comes up next year will be bigger and better this year ’s.
Athletes
Continues from BP Nigeria championships, which begins tomorrow. Some of the foreign based athletes had made their observations known to the AFN concerning the tracks, which they claimed was difficult to produce a good performance on. But the AFN technical director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama said the Warri Stadium tracks remain one of the best in the country and the meet, which is a trial selection for the World Championships next month in China and the All Africa Games billed for September in Congo will remain there. “I am not aware of any
plan to move the trials to Sapele, Warri is still the venue. “The tracks at the Warri Stadium is one of the best in the country. It is more convenient for us to hold all the events in Warri,” Nesiama. The athletes worry is down to the fact that the AFN has raised the bar for them. They are required to make the A standard of the world championships to book a place to Beijing. At the Warri Relays most of the athletes failed to hit the mark. “It was down to jet lag. We expect them to put up a good performance in the trials,” added Nesiama.
GMD/CEO Zenith Bank, Peter Amangbo (r) President NBBF, Tijani Umar pose with captain of Dolphins Basketball club holding the trophy
Le Roy
Continues from BP RioOlympics. They are midfielders Philzgérarld Mbaka, Hardy Binguila, Charlevy Mabiala, Yohan Andzouana and Julsy Boukama Kaya and striker SyvèreGanvoulaMboussy. Attacking midfielder from
French club AJ Auxerre Binguila is already an establishedfullinternationalfor hiscountry. Congomovedintoatraining campinPointeNoireyesterday. The game is scheduled for Pointe Noire at 16h30 CAT on Sunday.