Author: Brila

The new World Cup qualification format poses major logistic challenges and the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) must start planning for the marathon qualifiers in earnest according to President of FIBA Africa Zone 3, Sam Ahmedu.

 Nigeria had the luck of the draw for the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers on Saturday,  getting pitched against Uganda, Rwanda and Mali according to former Captain of D’Tigers Olumide Oyedeji.

Maria Sharapova set up a match against Eugenie Bouchard with a first-round win at the Madrid Open on Sunday.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp accepted he was likely to find little sympathy for the mitigating factors he identified as the cause of dropped points in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Southampton.

Goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck were enough to take all three points as scrap for the top four heats up. Manchester United have not lost a match in the premier League since losing to Chelsea last October. Arsenal came from the back of losing a north London derby last Sunday but changes to the line up saw a rejuvenated Arsenal and Arsene Wenger enjoyed his first ever Premier League win over Jose Mourinho . Exciting day for arsenal fans.

Arsene Wenger got one over his nemesis, Jose Mourinho, after 13 meetings in the Premier League following Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday.

Nigeria has been drawn against Uganda, Rwanda and Mali in Group B of the Africa qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.

No sooner did boxing’s biggest star Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) dispatch Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) in a dominant shutout victory over 12 rounds at the sold-out T-Mobile Arena, than the middleweight superstar announced that boxing’s biggest fight – a showdown with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) – would take place on Mexican Independence Day weekend on September 16.

As the Sports Federations elections draw near, my special focus is on what happens in the Nigeria Basketball Federation. It is no longer news that the house of basketball is seriously polarized because of the style of leadership of the Tijani Umar led federation. Apart from the ban on players, referees, coaches and technical officials without trial, many stakeholders have embarked on self-exile because of the Umar draconian style of leadership.

Nigeria’s Sprint queen Blessing Okagbare will hope to quickly put the Doha experience behind her quick enough to bounce back stronger on the tracks, perhaps in China.