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  • Mar, Wed, 2020
Foreign

First Premier League game, Manchester City vs Arsenal called off amid coronavirus outbreak

 

Postponement

London, March 11, 2020 (dpa/NAN) Wednesday’s match between Manchester City and Arsenal has been postponed “as a precautionary measure,” the Premier League said, announcing the first match in the top competition to be called off due to the novel coronavirus.

The league said that the decision followed the announcement on Tuesday that the owner of English second-tier club Nottingham Forest and Greek side Olympiakos, Evangelos Marinakis, tested positive to the virus.

“Thirteen days ago, Olympiakos played Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in the UEFA Europa League and Mr Marinakis, the Greek club’s owner, met with several Arsenal squad members and staff.

“Following medical advice, Arsenal FC and Manchester City FC consider it is necessary to postpone their fixture due to be played this evening, Wednesday, March 11, to give time to fully assess the situation,” the Premier League said in a statement. (dpa/NAN)

YEE

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Edited by Emmanuel Yashim

Sport

WAUG: UNIPORT dominates chess event

Chess

By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt, Nov. 7, 2018 (NAN) The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has defeated Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) 4-0 in Round 2 of the chess event at the ongoing West Africa Universities Games (WAUG) in Port Harcourt.

The quartet of Daniel Anwuli, Abimbola Osunfuyi, Ikorogbudu Ugushida and Eugene Unwana of UNIPORT defeated their counterparts from OAU to take top spot on the opening day of the chess event.

The victory puts the WAUG host, UNIPORT, top of the table after two rounds with maximum 8.0 points; they are closely followed by the University of Benin (UNIBEN) with 7.5 points.

University of Lagos is on third spot with 6.0 points, while Akwa Ibom State University; Niger Delta University (NDU) and the University of Maiduguri have no point so far.

In the female handball event, NDU defeated Bayero University of Kano (BUK) 20-11, while in the Volleyball event, BUK thrashed University of Uyo (UNIUYO) 22-3.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that UNIUYO players were drafted from their football team.

In the football event, BUK came from behind to defeat UNIPORT 3-2 in their second Group B match, while Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST) held Nasarawa State University (NSUK) to 2-2 draw.

The final group matches will see KUST take on University of Lagos; NSUK and UNIUYO; BUK take on University of Abuja, while UNIPORT will play against University of Developmental Studies Ghana. (NAN)
DES/MAS/PDE
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(Edited by Moses Solanke/Peter Ejiofor)

Sport

Envoy says Pakistan to produce footballs for Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup

Footballs
By Biola Lawal
Abuja, March 22, 2018 (NAN) The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be played with made-in-Pakistan football, Azim Khan, Head of Chancery at the Pakistani High Commission, said on Thursday in Abuja.

“The balls for this year’s World Cup tournament are being produced by my country,’’ Khan told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the 2018 FIFA World Cup would make it a record fourth time his country would be producing the balls for the FIFA competition.

The envoy said the quality of the balls produced in his country was high, adding that “70 percent of hand-made footballs used across the world are produced in Pakistan’’.

He attributed the achievement to the high quality of leather materials used in his country for the production of footballs, adding “they have continued to draw global attention’’.

Khan also expressed optimism that the balls would produce the desired result when the tournament begins in June.

“The city of Sialkot in eastern Pakistan where the footballs are being made is famous all over the world for producing the finest quality sports goods.

“Footballs manufactured in the country have also been a part of the footballing extravaganza since a long time.

“Sialkot was also once the unassailable football production capital of the world — exporting about 30 million balls a year, an estimated 40 percent of global production.

“The production company, Forward Sports, which also makes footballs for the German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1 and the UEFA Champions League, was also the official football provider for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, according to a recent Aljazeera report,’’ he said.

“The footballs that will be used in the upcoming tournament is technically termed as thermo-bonded, and was first introduced at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“Before that, Pakistan had supplied hand-stitched football for almost all the World Cups from the 1990s to 2010.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Aljazeera had quoted Khawaja Masood, the company’s chairman, as saying “this is an honour for us, that we are going to provide footballs for the World Cup once again. We are very excited to meet this challenge”.

Khawaja could not give the exact number of footballs the company was going to supply for the World Cup alone due to restrictions from Adidas.

He however said his firm produced a total of 700,000 footballs a month.(NAN)
BL/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

 

Health

NGO launches campaign against gender violence through football

NGO launches campaign against gender violence through football
NAN-HG-5
By Moses Kolo
Campaign
Kafanchan (Kaduna State), March 7, 2018 (NAN) Gender Awareness Trust, a Kaduna-based NGO, has organised novelty football matches in four communities in Zangon Kataf local government area to campaign against gender based violence.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two football matches were played on Wednesday simultaneously between Fadan Kamantan and Kamuru Ikulu at the LEA Primary School Fadan Kamantan.
The second match was between Ramai Zonkwa and Zannon communities at the LEA Primary school premises at Zonzon.
The campaign was also to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.
Mrs Tyda Abba, a Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the NGO, told NAN in Zonzon that the events were the organisation’s Collective Action for Adolescent Girls Initiative (CAAGI) project.
She said the events were to raise consciousness on the ills of violence meted against women and adolescent girls in the society.
“There is no excuse for any form of violence as any aggrieved person is supposed to seek redress from a court of law rather than resort to violence,” she said.
The spokesperson said the organisation engaged men in the campaign as “male champions”, who also played key roles in the advocacy to ending gender-based violence.
She enjoined Nigerians to join the campaign to rid the society of violence for development and enhanced mutual trust and understanding among all sexes.
Mr Ibrahim Adamu, one of the players from Zonzon community, commended the initiative and prayed for its sustenance.
Miss Hajara Sani, a spectator at the event, said she was impressed to see the men folk come together to collectively embrace the idea of ending violence against women.
NAN reports that the matches ended with Fadan Kamantan defeating Kamuru Ikulu 2-0, while Ramai Zonkwa won 1-0 against host Zonzon community, respectively. (NAN)
MGK/DS/MST
Edited by Dauda Shehu/Muhammad Suleiman Tola