Governing Bodies
AFRICAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEES SUPPORT PROCEEDING WITH OLYMPICS IN 2020, SAYS NAMIBIA CHIEFTAIN
The President of the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC), Abner Xoagub, has claimed that his counterparts from the other African Olympic Committees support the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stance of proceeding with the Tokyo 2020 Games this summer.
Speaking at a media conference on Thursday, Xoagub said that all the African Olympic Committees backed the International Olympic Committee’s stance to continue preparing for the Tokyo Olympics to go ahead as currently scheduled, reports The Namibian.
“All the African Olympic Committees had a conference call with
the IOC President for an update on the situation on Wednesday and all the
members supported the motion to proceed with the Games,” Xoagub said.
“The IOC encourages all athletes to continue preparing for the Olympic Games so
we need to support them and will consult with them, their coaches and their
federations as well as medical staff to make sure that they adhere to the
directives.
“To date, 57 per cent of the athletes are already qualified for the Games.
“For the remaining 43 per cent of places, the IOC will work
with the international federations, to make any necessary and practical
adaptations to their respective qualification systems for Tokyo 2020.
“The possibility remains to use existing and scheduled qualification events,
wherever these still have fair access for all athletes and teams.”
At the briefing, Xoagub also confirmed details of Namibia’s road
cyclists for this summer’s Games, should they proceed as planned.
“We had a meeting with the Namibian Cycling Federation, and after going through
their performances at the qualifying events, Vera Adrian and Dan Craven have
been selected to represent Namibia at the Olympics in road cycling, with Martin
Freyer selected as a reserve to Dan,” he said.
A total of five Namibian athletes have now qualified for Tokyo 2020, with Adrian and Craven joining rower Maike Diekmann, boxer Jonas Jonas and marathon athlete Helalia Johannes.
Other Namibian athletes well placed to qualify for this summer’s Games are marathon runner Reinhold Thomas, wrestler Romeo Goliath, swimmers Phillip Seidler and Alexander Skinner, mountain bike riders, Tristan de Lange and Alex Miller, karatekas Suxelle Pronk and Freddy Mwiya Junior and athlete Beatrice Masilingi.
Secretary general of the NNOC Joan Smit provided an update on how the above athletes were faring in the race to secure spots for this summer’s Olympics.
“Reinhold’s qualifying event was cancelled, so the International Association of Athletics Federations will now make a decision based on his performance at the World Championships last year,” Smit said.
“Romeo’s final qualifying event has also been cancelled, but he did very well at the African Championships in Algiers, so we are hopeful that he will qualify.
“The qualifying events for both Phillip and Alexander are due to take place in May, so hopefully that can still go ahead.
“Swimmers and athletes, in fact, can still qualify until June, so there is still time for them and our top athletes like Beatrice.
“Suzelle and Freddy’s karate qualifying event has been cancelled, but hopefully it can be rescheduled, while Michelle Vorster has a 99 per cent chance of qualifying – she has been competing in Spain recently to improve her world ranking.
“The qualifying races for the men’s mountain bike spot have been cancelled, but we will continue to monitor that situation.”
-insidethegames
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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