The National Women’s Basketball League that went on break after first round hostilities is expected to resume this weekend in four centres nationwide. The competition is sponsored by Zenith Bank Plc.
After the Technical Committee meeting and arrival of teams on Friday September 6, the jump ball at the four centres are to take place on Saturday September 7.
The centres are: South West (Ibadan), South East (Akure), North West (Zaria) and North Central (Abuja).
In Ibadan, the Indoor Sports hall of the Liberty Stadium will host First bank, Dolphins, Oluyole Babes, Ogun Babes and Ekiti Angels. Akure is the home of the South East centre with Delta Force, IGP Queens, MFM Queens, Coal City Queens, First Deepwaters and Sunshine Angels.
Zaria is the base for the North West centre which hosts Taraba Hurricanes, Kebbi Angels, Adamawa Angels, Zamfara Babes, Exousia Angels, GT 2000 Queens, Nigeria Army Amazons and AHIP.
North Central base is Abuja with Nigeria Customs, Benue Princess, Plateau Rocks, Nasarawa Amazons, Blackgold Queens, Air Warriors Babes, FCT Wings and Kanem Queens of Borno competing for honours.
These teams featured in the first round hostilities shortly before the Afrobasket competition which D’Tigress won in Senegal recently.
According to a release signed by the Secretary General of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Afolabi-Oluwayemi Olabisi, the second phase will end on September 12 as teams are expected to depart on September 13.
Defending Champions First Bank, Dolphins, MFM and Nigeria Customs are some of the teams with superb run in the first phase.
The Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, charged the players to double their efforts to make the cut for the women’s national team, D’Tigress.
“We expect a keen contest and it is important for the players to put up their best to enable them to break into the national team, D’Tigress,” Onyeagwu said.
PG 2
Caption 1
Nadal…through to fourth round of US Open 2019
Caption 2
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (right) has scored in each of his last seven starts at Emirates Stadium. He was on target against Spurs yesterday
Caption 3
L-R: Abolade Akintunde (3rd place), Alaba Omotola (1st place) and Uhibudon Okafor (2nd place) during the GOtv Boxing NextGen Search 5 held at the Indoor Sports Hall of Kwara State Stadium …last Friday
US OPEN 2019
Nadal Through to Fourth Round, Kyrgios out
Rafael Nadal powered past Chung Hyeon into the US Open fourth round yesterday, capitalising on the extra rest he enjoyed before facing the South Korean.
The Spanish second seed, who had a walkover in the previous round, had not played since Tuesday and it showed in a dominant 6-3 6-4 6-2 win.
By contrast, Chung had come through three rounds of qualifying and spent nine hours more on court.
Nadal faces Marin Cilic next, while sixth seed Alexander Zverev also won.
Australian 28th seed Nick Kyrgios failed in his bid to progress past the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time after losing 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to Russian Andrey Rublev.
With defending champion Novak Djokovic and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the opposite side of the draw, Nadal has – on paper at least – a more favourable route to a potential fifth US Open final.
Any concerns over the Spaniard’s fitness after he withdrew from the recent Cincinnati Masters because of fatigue have been dispelled here with two ruthless displays in his two matches.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion did not face a single break point against Chung, who was a top-20 player and Australian Open semi-finalist last year.
He sealed the first set with an ace, the second when he forced the South Korean to hit long and then took victory on his first match point with a rasping forehand winner.
“Nadal is merciless,” former player Jeff Tarango said in BBC Radio 5 Live commentary.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human being, animal, or any kind of species, more competitive than Rafa Nadal. Ever. The dude is always competing. He always has to be playing something or winning at something. He never stops.”
Last year Nadal reached the semi-finals here but was forced retire at the end of the second set against Juan Martin del Potro because of a knee injury.
On his way there he had come through two four-setters and a five-setter, which he says took their toll, and so the fact he has reached the second week at Flushing Meadows by spending little more than four hours on court could help him.
Against Chung, he had dispensed with the tape he usually has strapped around his knees.
“The tape is not working any more,” he told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with a smile. “But I’m happy to be playing on the hard court. I’m trying to play a bit more aggressive. I’m happy to be in the fourth round one more time.”
Meanwhile, women’s second seed Ashleigh Barty has been knocked out of the US Open 6-2 6-4 by China’s Wang Qiang in the fourth round.
French Open champion Barty was out of sorts throughout, making 39 unforced errors and failing to convert all nine of her break points.
Wang, the 18th seed, secured victory when a Barty return went long.
The 27-year-old is through to her first Grand Slam quarter-final where she will face six-time champion n Serena Williams or Croatia’s Petra Martic.
…Federer Beats Goffin to Reach Q’final
Roger Federer cruised into the US Open quarter-finals, thrashing 15th seed David Goffin 6-2 6-2 6-0 in just 78 minutes.
The Swiss five-time champion fell a break down early in the first set but then won six games in a row to establish control in the fourth-round match.
Federer, 38, hit 34 winners while Belgian Goffin could only manage eight.
He will face Grigor Dimitrov or Alex de Minaur in the last eight.
“It was great. David didn’t have his best day either, he was struggling,” said Federer. “I was down on the score early so had to come back mentally.
“But then when I was up a break I started to feel like he wasn’t playing the same way and I was very happy with my level of play.”
The third seed had dropped the first sets in both of his opening two matches, but played with a swagger when he beat British number two Dan Evans in 80 minutes in the last round.
That form continued against Goffin, with the Belgian winning less than half Federer’s total of 83 with 39.
Federer booked his place in the quarter-finals for the 13th time in New York with a stunning passing shot down the line and remains on course to face world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals – a rematch of the epic Wimbledon final which the Serb won in a fifth-set tie-break.
And should Federer make it to the last day for the first time since his defeat by Djokovic in 2015, he could come up against Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal for the first time at the US Open in the final.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal Fight Back from Two Goals Down to Hold Spurs
Arsenal came from two goals down to claim a point yesterday from a full-blooded north London derby with Tottenham at Emirates Stadium.
Christian Eriksen put the visitors ahead early on after Bernd Leno spilled Erik Lamela’s shot at the Danish international’s feet.
Spurs were cruising when Harry Kane doubled their lead from the penalty spot after Granit Xhaka’s woefully misjudged challenge on Son Heung-min, but Alexandre Lacazette got on the end of Nicolas Pepe’s pass to give Arsenal hope in first-half stoppage time.
And Maurcio Pochettino’s side were made to pay for a conservative approach after the break as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang turned a Matteo Guendouzi cross beyond Hugo Lloris to secure a point for the Gunners.
The hosts thought they may even have found a winner with time running out, but a back-post finish by Sokratis was ruled out because Sead Kolasinac drifted offside in the build-up – though the Video Assistant Referee system (VAR) did check the decision.
In the five added minutes, Spurs saw an appeal for a second penalty turned down as referee Martin Atkinson adjudged Kane to be at fault for a tangle with Sokratis which VAR did not review.
The result lifts Arsenal to fifth in the Premier League with seven points from four games, while Tottenham head into September’s international break four places behind their rivals in ninth on five points.
NBB of C Elevates Three Kwara Boxers to Professional Rank
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Nigeria Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C) at the weekend elevated three amateur boxers in Kwara State to become professional boxers in the country.
President of NBB of C, Dr Rafiu Ladipo who announced the elevation named the trio to include Alaba Omotola, Uhibudon Okafor and Abolade Akintunde.
The new professional were among the 13 amateur boxers that emerged at the two-day boxing tournament sponsored by MultiChoice -GOTV held at the indoor sports hall of Kwara State Stadium Complex, Ilorin.
Speaking at the closing of the tournament, Dr Ladipo said that MultiChoice GOTV who are the sponsors of the tournament decided to move it to various places in the country because it believed that Nigeria has lots of potentials.
He said, “This competition started in 2017, we have gone to places including Ibadan, Abeokuta, Lagos, Benin, Kano and Ilorin because we believe that we have potentials and World champions can come from those areas”.
He advised those that were successful in the tournament to continue to train and imbibe discipline adding that boxing is a discipline sports and urged those that were not selected in this tournament to continue to train and correct where they went wrong in preparation for future events.
Ladipo said, ” For the 27 participants who were not selected in this competition, you should not be discouraged, you have to continue to train and correct where you go wrong.
“To those selected, it is the beginning of a journey, if you want to take boxing as a profession and you want to become professional boxers, you have to continue to train and imbibe discipline, boxing is a discipline sports”, he said.
Ms Jennifer Ukoh, Public Relations Manager, GOtv said that the boxing tournament which started in 2016 was aimed at imparting skills and knowledge in the youth who constituted larger percentage of the population of the country.
The Coordinator of the competition, Johnson Bamidele said that 20 bouts were held in the two days competition adding that 40 amateur boxers took part out of which 13 were successful while three were elevated go professional.
Bamidele said that MultiChoice would foot the registration and licence fee of the three elevated boxers.
He therefore advised other boxers who could not make the final choice should not relent in their efforts saying that, they can still make it the nearest future of the competition.
Meanwhile, some boxers who could not make the list were given consolation prizes by the organisers as a way of motivating them ahead of future participation.
