Edo state will host the National Kickboxing technical workshop at the indoor sports hall of Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium from November 6 to 10

According to the Secretary General of the Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria, Olalekan Faseesin, the workshop is in conjunction with Edo state sports commission and the KFN and is being endorsed by the Federal ministry of youth & sports development.

“We already got the permission from our host, a fantastic sports administrator who doubles as a sports icon, Yusuf Alli,“ Faseesin told Newsmen

“The workshop shall include Grading for referees and certification for coaches.

“Also, there will be a workshop for athletes and coaches as these would serve as prerequisites for the selection of referees for the 21st National Sports Festival in Asaba while any coach not certified and licensed by the federation will not be allowed to second any athlete during the festival.”

However, the President of the KFN, Wilson Okon, has praised the permanent secretary of the sports ministry, Ismaila Abubakar and the Edo state government for the existing laudable efforts aimed at developing Kickboxing in Nigeria.

“The federation will capitalise on the opportunity provided by the workshop in Benin city to honour the deputy governor with a distinguished award for his relentless support for sports in Nigeria,” he said.

Anthony Joshua believes that the highly anticipated all-British showdown with Tyson Fury will happen eventually. The pair have had two major fight talks fail to get to the ring stage since 2021 and mostly recently in October.

In March 2021, a two-fight deal was signed by both parties starting with a bout in Saudi Arabia on August 14. However, following an official announcement in May, a judge in the US court ruled that Deontay Wilder was due a third fight with Fury putting an end to the agreement.

Joshua then went on to lose to WBO mandatory, Oleksandr Usyk twice potentially killing off the chances of the bout with Fury. But last month it seemed as though British boxing fans would finally be treated to Joshua vs Fury after they entered into negotiations for a December 3 clash.

With Usyk ruling himself out of competition until early 2023, Fury offered Joshua a shot at his WBC title. Discussions appeared to be positive at the start, but communication crashed at the latter stages after Fury set multiple deadlines.

Despite all of the frustrations in trying to make the fight happen, Joshua remains positive and is confident hat the fight will happen

“It will happen. It will happen though. Same generation,” he told DAZN.

“Aside from the entertainment side, just as two competitors, two fighters, he’s definitely a fighting man and what people fail to realise – like they say ‘the social media stuff is annoying’ but culturally speaking from Tyson Fury’s culture, the Gypsy culture. You’ve watched the documentaries on Netflix and stuff it’s embedded in his culture.

“What we see is ‘why is he on social media?’ I know from growing up and being around that community as well, so I know that’s just how they call out fights and stuff, it’s nothing personal but from my culture, we don’t really deal with stuff like that we’re a bit more lowkey and handle our business so that’s where there’s a culture clash,” the British-Nigerian said.

Joshua went on to say that they both still want the fight to happen.

“But two fighting guys aside from tens of thousands of people coming out to an amazing stadium, he’s a fighting man and he wants to fight regardless of who’s watching, he just wants to fight and so do I.”

Before the fight can happen though, both men have separate opponents to face. Fury is set to face Derek Chisora for a third time on December 3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Meanwhile, Joshua is expected to return in either January or February next year against a currently undisclosed opponent. According to promoter Eddie Hearn, Dillian Whyte is the frontrunner.

The Nigeria Football Federation has announced the suspension of football official, Auwalu Baba Jada from all football-related activities, pending investigations into a video that has been trending online for some days now, in which he is apparently the principal character.

“Auwalu Baba Jada has been suspended from all football-related activities pending investigations into the video recording in which he is apparently the principal character. The investigations will be conducted by the ethics and integrity units of the Nigeria Football Federation.

“Auwalu Baba Jada will have no role in any football activity, event or programme until the investigations are concluded, and this also means he is summarily suspended from his membership of the Interim Management Committee of the Nigeria Professional Football League”, NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi said on Tuesday. 

In order to make world champions of World Cup bronze medallists, Flamingos given their innate talent and skills and demonstrated ability, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development will provide maximum support and encouragement to the Nigeria Football Federation as the players graduate from one level to another.

This pledge was contained in the remarks of the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Sunday Dare as he hosted the bronze medallists of the recently-concluded 7^th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals, Flamingos of Nigeria at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Tuesday. 

“We commend you for the way you performed without fear and held up the flag to win a historic bronze for our country in this competition. I praise the NFF for the support to the team right from their screening through the qualifiers and to the arrangements for final camping in Turkey and the final tournament in India. We must also commend the coaching crew for their steadfastness in imparting the right knowledge to the players.

“I will be happy to see these players graduate from this level to the U20 and then to the senior team, because they have the skills and talent, and demonstrated ability to do very well. The Ministry will give NFF the right support to achieve that. They have served well as good ambassadors of our country on and off the pitch.”

Earlier, President of the NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau had introduced the team to the Minister, recalling the team’s exploits during the qualifying campaign and at the final competition in India, describing the players as “young, energetic, vibrant, positive and promising.”

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar, hailed the team for “performing so wonderfully well” to make Nigeria proud, and observed that its success was attributable to synergy and telepathy, which should be credited to the coaching crew.

Captain of the team, Alvine Dah-Zossu expressed appreciation to the Ministry and the NFF, and thanked Nigerians from all walks of life who prayed for and wished the team well in India.

Also at the occasion were Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu (NFF 1^st Vice President); Dr. Mohammed Sanusi (General Secretary); Mr. Timothy Henman (NFF Board Member); Dr. Simon Ebhojiaye (Director, FEADS); Engineer Olatunji Okedairo (Director, Facilities); Alhaji Musa Jafaar (Director, Human Resources); Mr. Segun Oke (Director of Procurement); Chairmen of the Football Associations of Gombe and Kwara States and; Ms Mary Onyali (SA to the Hon. Minister).

Earlier, on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the players and their officials were received by Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu (NFF 1^st Vice President), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi (General Secretary); Ademola Olajire (Director of Communications); Barnabas Joro (Head of Protocol); Dayo Enebi Achor (Head of International); Toyin Ibitoye (Special Assistant to the Hon. Minister) and; Emmanuel Ayanbunmi (Chief Protocol Officer).

Chief Anyansi-Agwu gave kudos to the team for their excellent conduct on and off the field of play in India and assured them that the Government and people of Nigeria, as well as the NFF, are proud of their accomplishments. 

A dummy cheque of the sum of N3million promised the team by Super Eagles’ captain Ahmed Musa was presented to the players and officials at the airport. Chairman of the NFF Task Force on Youth Competitions, Alhaji Aminu Balele Kurfi promised the team the sum of $10,000.

The Presidency will host the team at a later date.

FILES] Napoli’s Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Italian Serie A footbal match between Napoli and Bologna on October 16, 2022 at the Diego-Maradona stadium in Naples.

Victor Osimhen’s Napoli will be the Group A winner if it avoids defeat at Liverpool today by four goals or more in a match between two teams already sure of progressing

The Champions League has reached the final round of group-stage matches, with four spots in the lineup for the last 16 still up for grabs.

Here’s what to look out for this week
Qualification Spots:
Eight teams are still in contention for the knockout stage with four of them all coming from the same group.

It’s everything to play for in Group D, with just two points separating top-place Tottenham and Marseille at the bottom. Those two teams face each other in France, while Sporting Lisbon hosts Eintracht Frankfurt.

A draw will be enough to see Tottenham qualify, but all of the teams in the group know a win will ensure qualification.

AC Milan and Salzburg meet at the San Siro tomorrow to decide, which team joins Chelsea in qualifying from Group E. A draw would be enough for Milan.

Leipzig needs to avoid a loss against Shakhtar tomorrow in Group F to secure progress to the round of 16. Shakhtar will advance with a win.

Ukrainian club, Shakhtar, had a tough task just to play in the Champions League again following the Russian invasion. Now it would fly the Ukrainian flag in the last 16.

Shakhtar has to play its home Champions League games in Poland because of the war and is fielding a young squad after FIFA allowed foreign players to suspend their contracts with Ukrainian teams and play elsewhere.

Coach Roberto De Zerbi left and the Ukrainian league shut down for six months from February to August. Shakhtar’s league game on Saturday was interrupted for more than an hour by an air-raid alarm.

Despite that, Shakhtar has stayed competitive and knows it will qualify from its group if it beats Leipzig. Shakhtar is assured of placing at least third and continuing its unusual European season in the Europa League.

Shakhtar won its first meeting with Leipzig 4-1 in September, prompting Leipzig to fire coach Domenico Tedesco. The German team has bounced back under Marco Rose, upsetting Real Madrid 3-2 last week after twice beating Celtic.

Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Manchester City are the only teams to have already won their groups heading into the final matchday.

Real Madrid will win Group F — regardless of rival Leipzig’s result — by beating Celtic at home tomorrow.

Napoli will be the Group A winner if it avoids defeat at Liverpool today by four goals or more in a match between two teams already sure of progressing.

Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica are the teams advancing from Group H. They each have 11 points before closing matches at Juventus and Maccabi Haifa, respectively, tomorrow.

In Group B, Club Brugge leads Porto by a point and both teams have already qualified. They finish against teams who are fighting to finish third to reach the Europa League knockout round playoffs. Brugge visits last-place Bayer Leverkusen today and Porto hosts third-place Atletico Madrid.

Only 10 teams have finished a single Champions League group stage with six wins from six matches. There could be two more this week.

Bayern could achieve the feat for the third time with a victory today in Group C over Inter Milan, which is already guaranteed to finish in second place so may choose to rest some players.

Napoli is looking to become the first Italian team since AC Milan in 1992 to have six straight wins in its group, but has to win at Anfield to do so.

Rangers and Viktoria Plzen have zero points ahead of group closers at home to Ajax and Barcelona, respectively.

The draw for the last 16 takes place at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on November 7.

Unpaid wages dominate a growing number of complaints by migrant workers in Qatar, the UN labour agency said Tuesday, 19 days from the start of the football World Cup.

The International Labour Organization said the number of worker complaints more than doubled in a year to 34,425 with the launch of a new online platform, in a report which called on Qatar to bolster the implementation of reforms launched after criticism of its rights record.

“The main causes of complaints concerned non-payment of wages and end-of service benefits, and annual leave not being granted or paid,” said the ILO report which added that 10,500 cases went to labour tribunals where nearly all judges ruled in favour of workers.

The report said the number of workers treated for heat related problems linked to the Gulf state’s searing summer temperatures had also fallen after the introduction of new restrictions in 2021.

It said four clinics for migrant workers treated 351 workers this summer, down from 620 in 2021 and 1,520 in 2020.

Qatar, where the World Cup starts on November 20, has been widely criticised over conditions for migrant workers – as well as rights for women and the LGBTQ community.

The ILO said Qatar has carried out “significant” reforms that have “improved the working and living conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers” and were having an impact across the Gulf region.

“There is universal acknowledgement that more needs to be done to fully apply and enforce the labour reforms,” said the report.

“We all recognise that we are not yet at the finish line, and we will build on this solid foundation to address the gaps in implementation, and ensure that all workers and employers can fully benefit from these major reforms,” said Ruba Jaradat, ILO regional director for Arab states.

– Germany talks –

The report came out as Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser met Qatari government leaders in Doha after her comments on the tiny energy-rich state caused a diplomatic storm.

Qatar, which has become increasingly frustrated over the criticism, summoned the German ambassador after Faeser said Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup was “very tricky” for Germany.

Faeser and Germany’s football federation chief Bernd Neuendorf met ILO officials and union representatives on Monday.

Rights groups have continued to put a fierce spotlight on Qatar’s record, accusing the government of under-reporting the number of deaths on mega construction projects linked to the World Cup and demanding FIFA set up a compensation fund for migrant workers.

The ILO said, in a report issued in 2021, that 50 workers had died on construction projects in 2020.

It has not updated these figures, but its report said “substantial efforts” have been made in “labour migration governance, the enforcement of the labour law and access to justice, and strengthening the voice of workers and social dialogue.”

It said more than 300,000 workers had been able to change jobs after the partial dismantling of the “Kafala” labour system that previously meant a worker could not change posts or even leave the country without permission from their employer.

But it added: “There is a universal recognition that the work is not complete. This is not surprising given their (reforms) magnitude. It takes time to build institutions and change deep-rooted practices.”

The ILO established a temporary office in Doha after international unions made an official complaint about Qatar in 2014.

It said that Qatar has now requested that the office become permanent – which would be its first full office in a region where labour standards are regularly criticised.

The home-based Super Eagles will now face Costa Rica in a friendly in San Jose next week Thursday instead of the main team.

The local lads will prosecute the friendly against the North Americans as their foreign-based counterparts will be busy with club duties.

The team started preparation for the game in Ibadan on Monday under the supervision of coach Salisu Yusuf.

A number of U-23 players, who were part of the squad that defeated Tanzania in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, are part of the squad.

The team will also have a sprinkling of players from overseas.

The players and their officials are expected to depart for San Jose for the game on Thursday.

It will be first-ever meeting between Nigeria and Costa Rica at the senior level.

Costa Rica will use the game as part of their preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.