Okorodudu represented Nigeria at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, where he competed in the middleweight category, and he won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane

Former Nigerian boxer Jeremiah Okorodudu’s death on Wednesday, 28 June, at a private hospital in Surulere, has been confirmed by his wife, Adenike.

Okorodudu died at 64 after battling a foot ulcer.

According to Adenike, the deceased’s wife, the boxer had battled a partial stroke and diabetes for the last two years before he died just before a scheduled surgery to amputate his leg.

“Jerry really suffered. For the past two years, he had partial stroke and diabetes.”

“His leg was supposed to have been amputated on Saturday, but he gave up the ghost this night at the hospital we took him to in Lawanson in Surulere.

The Secretary-General of the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control and the President of the West Africa Boxing Union, Remi Aboderin, also said the association was shocked at his demise despite the positive reviews on his health status.

“It is true about his death. I just confirmed it after you called me, and I reached out to some colleagues.

“It is unfortunate that he died this way, and I am actually lost for words. May his soul rest in peace.”

However, Adenike revealed to Punch that her husband’s body had been seized at the Private hospital because of the N600,000 debt.

“He is dead now, but we still need to pay N600,000 to get his body out of the hospital.”

Okorodudu, during his prime as a boxer, represented Nigeria at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where he competed in the middleweight category. But earlier in 1982, he won a bronze medal at the Comonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia.

Okorodudu also won gold at the 1979 National Sports Festival in Ibadan.

The landscape of the proposed African Super League continues to change as even a possible change of name is in the offing.

The initial proposed August kick-off is no longer feasible as October is being considered as a possible take off period.

Also altered is the initial 24-team format which has been drastically reduced to eight. The composition of the eight club has also generated controversy.

CAF billionaire president, Patrice Motsepe told South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in Johannesburg that the approached sponsors of the $100 million prize money are not happy with the word ‘Super’ attached to the competition.

The CAF president failed to give the details about the prize money, the format or the names of the teams for the first edition.

The line-up of the eight clubs will include the 2023 Champions League semi-finalists – Al Ahly of Egypt, Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, Esperance of Tunisia and Motsepe-owned Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.

The French news agency also speculated that Nigeria’s Enyimba along with TP Mazembe of DR Congo, Simba of Tanzania and Petro Atletico of Angola may also take part.

The final list may anger some countries, especially  Algeria whose clubs have been excluded despite good performances in recent seasons.

Chabab Belouizdad have reached the quarter-finals of the last three Champions Leagues and USM Alger won the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup this season.

Enyimba have not reached the Champions League knockout stage since 2011, but it would be unthinkable to have an Africa Super League without the most populous country in the continent.

Like Qatar 2022 World Cup,  alcohol will not be sold in any of the venues at next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

Under a law dating back more than 30 years, alcohol is banned from sports stadiums, but organisers of this year’s Rugby World Cup in France had negotiated an exemption.

Paris 2024, though, is not seeking to have the law lifted for the Olympics, newspaper Le Parisien reported.

But beer, wine and spirits will be allowed to be served in VIP and corporate hospitality areas.

The 1991 Evin law prohibits the sale, distribution and introduction of alcoholic beverages in sports and physical activity establishments.

Many fans in France have lobbied for allowing alcohol to be sold at stadia across the country, complaining about the hypocrisy of selling it in VIP areas, but nowhere else.

In 2019, France’s then Health Minister Agnès Buzyn suggested that alcohol should also be banned from VIP areas, but her idea was quickly quashed by the drinks industry.

There are, however, several loopholes in the law which mean that wine, beer and cider are regularly sold at events for certain sports, such as rugby.

The law also allows local mayors to grant a limited number per year of exceptions to the law.

Japanese beer company Asahi has signed up as sponsor of the Rugby World Cup, due to take place between September 8 and October 28 and beer will be sold at the 48 matches at venues in the nine cities, as it is for normal domestic or international rugby games in France.

It appears that Paris 2024 will not be taking advantage of any of these loopholes.

Alcohol was also banned from stadiums at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo

Beer and wine was available at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics in London and Rio de Janeiro, respectively.

Last November, on the eve of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, organisers announced that beer would not be available for sale in stadiums.

Former Super Eagles captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, has named the top five footballers that he played alongside during his career.

Okocha’s time on the pitch spanned over 20 years. During that time, the former midfielder got to play along with many great names.

He began his top-flight journey in Europe with Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Fenerbahce in Turkey.

After two years, Okocha signed for Paris Saint-Germain in 1998 for a then-African record fee, where he spent four seasons.

Okocha then joined Bolton Wanderers, where he achieved a cult-hero status.

Okocha listed the best of his team-mates.

“Number one on my list will be Ronaldinho.

“And then Kanu of course. I liked the way Kanu played.

“Then Youri Djokaeff, the French World Cup winner and I’ll say Amokachi because we were roommates as well.

“And the last person is one of the underrated defenders I’ve played with, Uche Okechukwu,” Okocha, who retired from football in 2008, said.

Super Eagles of Nigeria are now 39^th in the FIFA Ranking released this Thursday morning. It was a slight improvement on the 4oth position they were in the last ranking done in April.

Their away win over Sierra Leone which also secured a qualification to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations may have been a contributory factor to the slight rise.

The Super eagles are however still out of the top five in the continent as Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria- in that order – are unrelenting in their grip of the top position.

Morocco’s Atlas Lions, the only African team to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup are still number 1 in Africa and 13^th globally.  They are followed by Senegal who are 18^th in the world.

Tunisia are third in Africa and 31^st in the world  while the number 4 ranked African team, Algeria are 34^th in the world.

Globally, Argentina are still number 1.

Nearly three months on from regaining top spot in the FIFA World Ranking, La Albiceleste remain out front thanks to friendly wins over Australia and Indonesia.

The top three is also unchanged, with the reigning world champions staying ahead of France (2nd) and Brazil (3rd).