EKONG SIGNS NEW GENT CONTRACT – By Akeem Busari

Super Eagles defender and captain of FK Haugesund William Troost Ekong, has signed a new contract with KAA Gent of Belgium. And he will return to the Belgian giants later in the year, when he completes his season long loan spell in Norway.

The Nigerian international who has been named captain of the Norwegian side has made an impressive start to the season for FK Haugesund, even as he was named in the ‘Best Scandinavian XI.

The fair skinned versatile defender who recently won his 6th cap for Nigeria against Luxemborg was obviously delighted on his new contract.

William Troost Ekong
photo credit: WilliamTroostEkong.com

“Gent is a big club and l have made it my goal to succeed there in the next years, ” Ekong enthused.

Continuing, he relishes his impressive start to the new season in Norway,” it has been a good start for me and Haugesund. And as the captain, l owe it to the fans and the club to carry that on until the end of the season in November, “he added.

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OSN Brings All The Live Action Of The Hero Caribbean Premier League From June 29

OSN, the leading pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, will bring all the action from the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to its subscribers this summer, further underlining it as the ultimate destination for cricket.

OSN subscribers can watch every match live on OSN Sports Cricket HD, starting on June 29 through to the final on August 7. The matches will be played across six venues in the Caribbean and for the first time, six fixtures will be played in Lauderhill, Florida, USA.

With the CPL now in its fourth year, established stars such as Chris Gayle, AB De Villiers, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo will all be featuring in the tournament.

The launch of the Hero Caribbean Premier League in Harvard Sports Club, St. Clair, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.
Photo Credit: CPL/Sportsfile

This year the teams will include the likes of Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinbago Knight Riders, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Lucia Zouks and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots all battling it out in an initial group stage format before progressing to knock-out matches.

For more details and the match schedule, please visit: http://www.osn.com/sports

WPWL 2016: SERBIA CONFIRMS SUPERIORITY AT WATER POLO SUPER FINAL

Defending champions Serbia enjoyed a comfortable victory 10-6 (2-0, 3-1, 3-0, 2-5) over the U.S. to retain the champion’s trophy at the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final which concluded in Huizhou, China, on Sunday.

Tony Azevedo of the United States was named the Best Scorer of the tournament, Greece’s Konstantinos Flegkas received the Best Goal Keeper trophy and Serbia’s Branislav Mitrovic claimed MVP of the Super Final.

In the bronze medal match, Greece beat Italy 11-7, while Australia placed fifth, defeating Japan 12-7.

Water polo powerhouse Serbia grabbed the title for the fourth consecutive year and remained unbeaten throughout the tournament in Huizhou. The team was defeated once in the European preliminaries by Montenegro after a 10-10 tie (13-15 after PSO). Montenegro did not make it to the Super Final.

WPWL 2016: SERBIA CONFIRMS SUPERIORITY AT SUPER FINAL
photo credit: FINA.ORG

Final ranking of the 2016 World League

1. Serbia, 2. USA, 3. Greece, 4. Italy, 5. Australia, 6. Japan, 7. Brazil, 8. China

Seven out of the eight squads of this Super Final will be again in action at the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The Olympic groups’ composition is as follows:

Group A

Serbia
Greece
Brazil
Australia
Japan
Hungary

Group B

USA
Spain
France
Montenegro
Italy
Croatia

In the women’s Super Final, the USA was the best, followed by Spain and Australia in that order.

FINA.ORG

Kalu Named NWPL FutbolGalore.Com June Player Of The Month

There has been plenty of intriguing moments in the Nigeria Women Premier League this June and plenty of individual brilliance on which to shine a light.

Seven players’ stars shone brighter than most, but our team of experts have chosen Bayelsa Queens’ Patience Kalu as the standout player of the month.

The winger, who scored three goals and accounted for two assists in the month in review fended off the challenge of Sarah Ilodubah (Osun Babes), Monday Gift (COD Ladies), Anam Imo (Nasarawa Amazons), Glory
Iroka (Rivers Angels), Amirat Adebisi (FC Robo) and Vivian Ikechukwu (Abia Angels) to win the award which is powered by Futbalgalore.com.

Kalu, who is a problem to defenders produced breathtaking performances against Nasarawa Amazons and Osun Babes.

Patience Kalu wins NWPL FutbolGalore.Com June Player Of The Month award

“It’s an unbelievable achievement and it just shows how the club is doing as well as me. My team mates are putting me into the positions to score the goals, so I am obviously delighted to be named as the player of the month of June,” Kalu said.

El Shemerly To Coach Egypt’s Volleyball Team At The Olympics #RoadToRio

Sherif El Shemerly returned as head coach of Egypt Men’s Volleyball National team this week ahead of the World League third weekend, after his first spell as a National team head coach from 2011-2012. He replaced Nehad Shehata who took over the responsibility in the first and second World League weekends following the expulsion of the Italian coach Flavio Gulineli ahead of the World League campaign. Shehata will continue as coach in the third weekend of World League and at the Olympic Games.

Egypt will line up against Netherlands, Korea and Czech Republic in the third weekend of the World League July 1 to 3, 2016 aiming to compete for one of the three slots of Group 2 in the finals which will be hosted by Portugal.

The new coach selected the same squad to play in Korea as the team star Ahmed Salah and the setter Abdalla Abdelsalam and the outside hitter Mohamed Abdel Moniem are still missing for different injuries.

El Shemerly started his career as a coach before he retired as a player when he took over the responsibility of the youth team in his club of origin Heliopolis while he was only 25years old. He progressed to the senior team as Assistant coach in 1991 to start his real coaching career.

He then moved to Qatar as Wakra club Youth & Junior teams Coach 1995- 1996 before being upgraded as a coach for Qatar’s Youth national Team 1996 till 1997. He returned back to Egypt to lead Heliopolis Club Senior team in the Egyptian premier league from 1997-2000.

In 2000 he started one of his most successful eras as a coach when he was appointed as Assistant coach for the Egyptian U19 Youth team at the 2001 FIVB Boys U19 World championship, then he was upgraded as a head coach few weeks ahead of the competition. His name started to shine when he led his boys to the semifinal of the world championship known to be the best ever rank for an Egyptian team at the world level.

Sherif El- Shemerly

He went forward with the same squad when they were upgraded as a Junior team to lead them to the second round of the 2003 Men’s U21 World Championship in Iran. During this period he led both youth and junior teams to the African title before he returned back to frame a new generation after he led the Youth team in 2004 to win the African title before moving with them to the Men’s U21 category to once again win the African crown with them and participate with both teams in the world championships.

Shemerly shifted to another challenge in 2005 when he was appointed as Assistant coach for the senior Egyptian team. in 2011 he took over the responsibility as a head coach to lead the team to their 4th in a row African Nations Championship’s title in Morocco.

He then worked as Qatar VB Association “QVA” Technical Director of National Teams in 2012 till he was appointed again for a second spell as Egyptian National team head coach to conduct the team at 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

He headed the CAVB Coaching Commission 2010 till now and a he is member of the FIVB coaching commission 2012 till now.

Ovoke apologizes to Eguma, teammates

Rivers United winger, Bernard Ovoke has apologized to coaches and players of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) club for the actions which earned him an indefinite suspension earlier this week.

Ovoke was indefinitely suspended for ‘his actions that border on anti-club activities and gross indiscipline’ on Monday, June 27.

The winger has now taken the time to apologize for his actions, revealing that he is eager to return to the fold.

“I want to use this medium to apologize to the technical manager (of Rivers United FC) Stanley Eguma who has been more like a father to me since I joined the football club.

Bernad Ovoke

“I want to also apologize to all the coaches of the club as well as my teammates.

“I acknowledge that I was wrong and I deserved to be suspended.

“It is my prayer that my suspension is lifted as I will like to return to join my teammates as we look to win laurels for the fans of Rivers United FC,” he told Rivers United Media.

Ovoke has scored seven goals in all competitions for Rivers United this season.

AGOGU: 3SC WON’T BE RELEGATED By Akeem Busari

The resurgence of 3SC in the battle against relegation has been attributed to the fatherly roles and motivation of the players by returnee coach, Gbenga Ogunbote.

This remark was made in a chat by 3SC new star on the horizon, Ebitimi Agogu. The stocky attacker stated that the team’s new found form is down to the tactical nous and motivation of the team by coach Ogunbote.
“We are blessed to have someone like coach Ogunbote in charge of the team. He sure knows how to motivate the players and we see him as a father figure, “Agogu said.

The former Bayelsa United and Sharks player who is on loan from Rivers United, promises to score more goals to ease the relegation problems of his team.

” I want to score more goals for my team and to repay the faith of the management in my abilities, “he enthused.

EBITIMI AGOGU

Agogu who has scored two goals in two games for the Oluyole Warriors, blamed his low scoring stats to his inability to get playing time whilst he was with Rivers United.

” By the grace of God, l hope to score 11 goals this season. And l pray that it helps my team to move up the ladder, ” the diminutive forward quipped.

He went ahead to admonish the fans of 3SC to continue to support and pray for the team, as the players and the management of the team remain resolute in their efforts to make them proud.