Governing Bodies
TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES NOT CERTAIN
A high-profile member of the Olympic movement has cast doubt on whether the rescheduled Tokyo Games will proceed in the summer.
The BBC has reported Canadian Dick Pound, 78, as saying: “I can’t be certain because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.”
His comments come on the back of Games host Japan declaring a limited state of emergency in the capital, Tokyo, and three neighbouring prefectures on Thursday (Jan 7) to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The Japanese government said the one-month emergency would run from Friday to Feb 7 in Tokyo and the Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures, covering about 30 per cent of the country’s population.
The measure comes just over six months before the virus-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are due to open, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga this week insisted he was still committed to holding the Games as “proof of mankind’s victory over the virus”.
But the emergency is likely to harden public opinion, with a majority already opposed to holding the quadrennial Games this year even before the third wave worsened.
Japan has yet to approve a coronavirus vaccine, with Mr Suga saying he hopes the first jabs can begin in late February.
The situation around the rest of the world is no better, with much of Europe and the United States also in the grip of a second or third wave of the virus.
The US counted a record number of daily coronavirus deaths on Thursday at nearly 4,000, during which the country notched 265,246 new infections, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
On Wednesday, the day England went into a lockdown, Britain recorded 62,322 new coronavirus infections and 1,041 deaths.
The same day, Portugal – a nation of just 10 million people – reported 10,000 new cases while Ireland closed its schools in a bid to bring its own infection rates under control.
There are also two variations of Covid-19 steadily making their way around the world. The British strain and another which emerged in South Africa are both believed to be more infectious versions of the virus.
The Games, originally set to take place last year, have been postponed till July 23 to Aug 8.
Pound, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) longest-serving member, is one of the Olympic movement’s most vocal officials. A former chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he was one of the first IOC members to indicate early last year that the Tokyo Olympics were in doubt because of the pandemic.
That eventually came to pass with the IOC and the Japanese government jointly announcing that in March that the Games would be delayed by a year.
On Thursday, Pound told Sky News that “the most realistic way of it going ahead” would be for athletes to be vaccinated before the Olympics, suggesting that Tokyo-bound athletes should be given priority access to the coronavirus vaccines.
-Reuters/AFP
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.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
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
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
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.”
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
As major global sporting events beckon, Morocco’s monarch launches the Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed rail project
Nigeria Premier League attains a crescendo this weekend
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL7 days ago
Naira rain falls on Nigeria’s Flamingos after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria
- OBITUARY4 days ago
NFF mourns the demise of former FIFA referee, Bosede Momoh
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria
- U-17 AFCON7 days ago
Morocco crowned CAF U-17 AFCON champions after dramatic penalty shootout win over Mali
- U-20 FOOTBALL6 days ago
Nigeria begin CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations title chase with Tunisian clash
- Nigerian Football6 days ago
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United
- feature4 days ago
Ghana’s Cardinal, Appiah Turkson, listed as a possible Pope
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu