Governing Bodies
CI Rankings: Nigerian female cyclists soar above Egypt, South Africa
Nigerian female cyclists have soared above their rivals, Egypt and South Africa in the elite category on the current rankings of the International Cycling Union, UCI.
An elated president of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria, CFN, Giadomenico Masari who disclosed this during the federation’s end of year virtual meeting said the development is a sign that cycling is moving in the right direction in the country.
Out of the nine events scored, Nigeria placed ahead other African countries in five with Egypt and South Africa topping in three and one respectively.
Nigerian elite female cyclists rank top in Individual Sprint, Keiring, 500m Time Trials, Team Sprint and Team Pursuit events while Egypt lead in Omnium, Scratch and 3km Pursuit while South Africa are top in the Point Race.
Interestingly, Nigeria also progressed 12 steps on the world ranking in the Elite sprint from 32 position in 2019 to 20 in 2022, from 33 in 2019 to 20 in 2022 in the Elite female Keiring event as well as jumped 19 steps in the Elite female 500m from 30 in 2019 to 11 in 2022.
The junior female cyclists were not that lucky like their elite counterparts as they led the rest of Africa in three and placed second in five out of the 10 events considered.
These are in the Sprint, Keiring and Time Trials where they also ranked well in the world, placing 8th, 9th and 10th respectively.
Meanwhile the country’s elite and junior men didn’t rank top in any of the events. South Africa are the leaders in the elite men’s Sprint, Keiring and 1km Time Trials considered.
They also top in the junior category in Sprint, Team Pursuit and 1Km Time Trials while Egypt are the leaders in the Team Sprint event.
The CFN president however, said more efforts are needed from the federation to continue to showcase the athletes in international championships were they could gather more points to continue to close the gap between them and the leading countries in cycling in the world.
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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