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2019 AFCON Qualifiers: 22 Super Eagles players light up Uyo

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  • Team in first training session
  • Libyan team coming tomorrow

Super Eagles players had their first training session yesterday ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers against Mediterranean Knights of Libya.

Also, stand-in captain Ahmed Musa and 21 others light up the team’s camp in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State ahead of Saturday’s tie.

The arrival of the players afforded the Coach Gernot Rohr-led technical crew to organize a first training session yesterday, as the three-time African champions prepare to pick three points from the Group E pace-setters.

Among those that arrived the Ibom Meridien Hotels and Resort camp, yesterday were Goalkeepers Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi, as well as defenders William Ekong, Semi Ajayi, Leon Balogun, Olaoluwa Aina, Jamilu Collins, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem and Kenneth Omeruo.

Others were midfielders Wilfred Ndidi, Samuel Kalu, Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu and Oghenekaro Etebo, and forwards Isaac Success, Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru and Kelechi Iheanacho.

Only Russia –based wing back Bryan Idowu and China-based forward Odion Ighalo are expected to join the team today.

The Mediterranean Knights top Group E with four points (from their defeat of Seychelles and draw with Libya), while South Africa (winner over Nigeria before they drew with Libya) are second and Nigeria, who lost to South Africa and defeated Seychelles, lie third.

The Libyan Football Federation confirmed on Monday that a 54 –man delegation comprising players, technical crew, backroom staff and LFF officials will fly into Ibom International Airport, Uyo aboard a chartered aircraft on Thursday.

Match officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as the referee assessor from Mali and the security officer from South Africa, will arrive in Nigeria on Thursday and then fly to Uyo on Friday morning.

Source: The Nation

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Sports

Robinho To Serve A 9 Year Jail Term Over Gang Rape

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Former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Robinho will reportedly serve a nine-year jail sentence for gang rape – Imposed on him by an Italian court — in Brazil, judges in Brasilia has ruled.

The 40-year-old was found guilty in Italy in 2017 and according to Globo, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (BSCJ), made the ruling on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

The former Premier League player, whose real name is Robson De Souza, was one of six men who were found guilty of a§§aulting an Albanian woman in an Italian nightclub in January 2013.

In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome dismissed his final appeal against the conviction, according to the report.

Robinho claims he is innocent and has been living in Brazil for the past seven years. It came after nine of the court’s 15 ministers had voted in favour of the decision to incarcerate the footballer in Brazil.

Globo also claims that the ex-footballer, who also spent time at AC Milan and Real Madrid, will now be arrested in Santos, where he currently resides.

Robinho, who was 28 and was playing for AC Milan at the time, admitted during his appeal to having ‘contact’ with the woman, but the Brazilian insisted it was consensual.

The Milan Court of Appeals found Robinho had ‘belittled’ and ‘br¥tally h¥miliated’ the victim as it upheld his original sentence in December 2020.

Intercepted phone calls between the Brazilian and those allegedly involved in the assault were used as key evidence in his initial conviction.

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Former Tennis Champion, Tania Okpala Returns To Tennis After Rehabilitation

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Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, has revealed that former tennis champion, Tania Okpala, has resumed playing on the courts.

This development follows Soludo’s assurance that she would undergo rehabilitation after a video surfaced online showing her in distress on the streets of Awka, pleading for assistance.

In an update on his social media handle on Thursday, Soludo expressed his satisfaction with Okpala’s return, stating, “Tania Okpala is back on the courts!

“A few months ago, social media was flooded with a viral video showing Ms. Tania in a distressing state on the streets of Awka. I am pleased to report that we have successfully restored Tania to her winning ways.”

Okpala, who hails from Anambra and has a Belarusian mother, represented Nigeria in the 1990s.

Here are pictures of her in the tennis court.

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AFCON: Victor Osimhen Now Cleared To Join The Other Super Eagles Ahead Of Tomorrow’s Game

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Good News has it that Victor Osimhen has finally joined the Super Eagles Nigeria team in Bouake, Ivory Coast.

He has been given the clear from the medical team on the abdominal discomfort issue. Earlier it was reported that the player could not join the rest of the team who flew to Ivory Coast ahead of Tomorrow’s football match against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.

He’s fully fit and ready to play in the Semifinals against South Africa tomorrow.

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