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Brainiacs, Merry-ers Take Lead As Mindgames Scrabble Premier League Finale Begins

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Team Brainiacs and Team Merry-ers will enter the final weekend of the 2020/2021 Mindgames Scrabble Premier League as leaders of Division A and B respectively.

Brainiacs led by 2018 MPC Champion Eta Karo climbed to the summit of the 12-team table with 26 wins and 10 defeats while the defending champions  Blazers are hot on their heels with 24 team victories but with 12 losses.

The Hurricanes comprising a young gun in Enoch Nwali are third with 23 wins and 13 defeats. 

Interestingly, the trio of  Bulldozers, Phoenix and Airpop Alpha share similar points of 21 wins and 15 defeats to occupy the fourth, fifth and sixth positions accordingly.

Tekena Drones and Olowoyeye Predators will be seeking for more points to lift them beyond the 16 wins recorded so far while Lekki Bombers, Lusty Seniors and Supreme are placed 10th, 11th and 12th on the log.

In Division B, Merry-ers sit at the top of the table with 23 wins and seven defeat to dominate the second tier level ahead of rivals.

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Aries who have 21 victories and nine defeats and the Indomitables with 20 wins and 10 defeats are breathing down their neck. 

Anagrammers and D’ Warriors have a mirror result of 16 wins and 14 losses while FPC Titans and Airpop Falcons share the same team score of 14 wins and 16 defeats as they head to the final rounds of games.

Encore Flamingoes, Brain Teasers  and High Flyers complete the teams on the log.

The MSPL is a unique Championship where players group themselves into teams and compete for honours and bragging rights.

This season’s tournament which leg was held first in Lagos then Abuja and has enjoyed some support from Loense International and Tranos Nigeria limited.

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Division A and B winners will receive 1.5 million naira and one million naira each as over 6 million naira of total prize money will be on offer at the championship which ends this Saturday with an Award ceremony/Gala Night. 

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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All’s well that ends well at Lagos International Badminton Classic

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BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU

As the curtain fell on the 7th edition of the Lagos International Badminton Classic, Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat won the topmost prize, the men’s single final after beating India’s Samarveer in a thrilling clash.

He becomes the only non-Indian that clinched gold in the classic, the biggest and best in Africa.

The allure of the Vietnamese is the fact he was just one of the trio from his country and featured at the tournament without a coach.

He  lived up to his calling as the number one seed, beating Samarveer 2-1 even though the Indian had two coaches behind him providing him with technical support.

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The game started with the Vietnamese winning the first game by 21-10, but things turned around in the second game as the Indian won  by 21-18 to drag the Vietnamese into a third game which was filled with thriller as there was tension packed rising and falling of both players.

Though Le Duc Phat took a lead by 21-20, he could still not be declared winner by the umpire because he needed to win by two point’s difference just as the rule states.

A masterly final stroke from the Vietnamese  did the magic after he added the final point to win the third game at 22-20.

The victory did not just deny the Indians an opportunity to cart away all the other gold medals available at the tournament, but it also made Le Duc Phat the second Vietnamese to win the men’s single of the Lagos Badminton Classic since Nguyen Tien Minh first won the championship in the 2019 edition.

In the women singles, women doubles, men doubles and mixed doubles, it was an all India affair, as the Asians who are the only foreign country to come to the championship with the highest number of players cleared all gold available in those categories.

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In the women’s singles final, Indian’s Shreya Lele feasted on her fellow compatriot Kavipriya Selvam with two straight wins, to become women’s champion from wins of 21-11 and 21-16.

The women’s doubles and men doubles was also an all Indian affair, as a combination of Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi  beat  the duo of Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Alisha Khan 2-0 (21-11, 21-16 ) to emerge women double champions.

In the men double final, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Vishnuvardhan Goud PANJALA beat the duo of P.S Ravikrishna and Akshan Shetty with 2-0 (21-17,21-19) to win the gold, while the host, Nigeria’s duo of Alhaji Aliyu Shehu and Uchechukwu Deborah Ukeh, who lost in the final of the mixed doubles bowed to Indians duo of Sathwik Reddy Kanapururam and Vaishnavi Khadkehar by 2-0 (21-12,21-14).

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Amusan lost to conservation of strength, says Falilat Ogunkoya

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Nigeria’s first athlete to win an individual track and field medal at the Olympic Games, Falilat Ogunkoya has offered explanations on why Nigeria’s biggest hope for a medal at Paris 2024, Tobi Amusan failed to make the mark.

Falilat who was Nigeria’s first medallist at the Atlanta ‘96 Games won a bronze medal in the women’s 400 m and a silver in the 4x400m.

“I think Tobi Amusan was tensed up. She was restless. I don’t know what really happened to her. She probably was trying to conserve her energy for the medal race and overdid it”, remarked Falilat while trying to explain the third position that the Nigerian brightest prospect had in the Heat 1 of the women’s 100m hurdles race.

  Her chance of qualifying was hit a decisive blow when the third and fourth place in the last heat returned better time than the 12.55 seconds of Amusan.

 For most of the Nigerian athletes, Falilat is of the opinion that they were probably over confident and in some instances failed to heed to instructions from their Team Nigeria coaches.  

“Most prefer to listen only to their foreign coaches. I am not saying they should discard them, but when they come to Team Nigeria, the coaches should be listened to.”

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Next federations’ elections will change the face of Nigerian sports, says minister, Enoh

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Nigeria’s sports minister,  John Owan Enoh has stated that a scrutiny of the sports’ federations’ constitution will be conducted, ostensibly to ensure round pegs in round holes.

This is coming on the heels of the glaring zero medal outing Nigeria is about to record as the curtain falls on Paris 2024.

“There will be stiffer scrutiny of the constitutions governing Nigeria’s sporting federations in advance of the forthcoming elections”, the minister remarked in a press statement issued by Diana-Mary Nsan, his special assistant on media.

 “We did everything as a Ministry to prepare the athletes adequately and provide them  with every financial support but unfortunately the performance  has not produced any podium finish.”

He continued, “As we go back home we must do everything to prevent future occurrence of the Paris disaster and if this will entail the review of how people are elected to lead our sporting Federations, it will be done.”

Emphasizing the importance of upcoming federations’ elections, Senator Enoh noted, “I know that elections into the Federations are coming and it will be the perfect platform to get only those who have something to offer to lead the various sports.”

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Reflecting on the complexity of these elections, he added, “I am aware that the Sports Federations Elections in Nigeria are even tougher than our National Elections and you will begin to ask yourself why is it so.”

The Minister concluded, “So for me as a Minister it is important I supervise an Elections where only the best hands will lead the various Federations and I also understand that in some of the Federations their constitutions will need to be reviewed for better inclusion.”

This call for reform aims to enhance the leadership and effectiveness of Nigeria’s sports federations, paving the way for improved performance on the global stage.

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