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Tag: Olympics

  • Tokyo 2020: Brazil set up Olympics final with Spain

    Tokyo 2020: Brazil set up Olympics final with Spain

    Brazil reached back-to-back men’s Olympic football finals following a penalty shootout victory over Mexico.

    The defending champions won 4-1 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes in Kashima.

    Brazil goalkeeper Santos saved from Eduardo Aguirre in the shootout before Johan Vasquez hit the post with Mexico’s second penalty.

    They will play Spain in Saturday’s gold medal match.

    Dani Alves, Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli, Bruno Guimaraes and Reinier all scored their spot-kicks for Brazil.

    It looked like the second semi-final was heading for penalties until Marco Asensio scored in the 115th minute in Saitama.

    The Real Madrid winger came off the bench to score the winning goal with a superb curling strike from inside the box to send Spain to a first Olympic final since they finished runners-up at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

  • Tokyo 2020: FG to reward gold medalists with $15,000

    Tokyo 2020: FG to reward gold medalists with $15,000

    The Federal Government has announced a reward of 15, 000 dollars, 10,000 dollars, 7,500 dollars for gold, silver and bronze medalists at the Tokyo Olympics.

    Simon Ebohdjaiye, Director, Federation and Elite Athletes Department (FEAD), Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development said this on Tuesday in Tokyo.

    Ebohdjaiye made the announcement shortly after wrestler Blessing Oborodudu won Team Nigeria’s second medal at the Games.

    He said the reward was an upward review from the initial amount announced due to the dedication of the athletes.

    “Gold medallist will now be rewarded with 15,000 dollars, while silver and bronze medal winners will each get 10,000 dollars and 7,500 dollars respectively.

    “The earlier award is 5,000 dollars for gold, 3,000 dollars for silver and 2,000 dollars for bronze,” he said.

    The Director said the gesture was to drive home the point that the Federal Government would always reward superlative performance.

    Blessing Oborodudu made history as the first Nigerian wrestler to win an Olympic medal courtesy of the silver medal she won in the women’s 68kg freestyle and will now get 10,000 dollars for her efforts.

    Long jumper, Ese Brume, who won Nigeria’s first medal at the Games with a bronze will get 7,500 dollars.

    Her medal is the first won in track and field since 2008 at the Beijing Olympics where Blessing Okagbare and the women’s 4x100m relay team won a silver medal each.

    NAN reports that there are still three Nigerians left in the Wrestling event led by world number one in her category Odunayo Adekuruoye.

    Also within the medal range is Chukwuebuka Enekwechi who will be competing in the men’s Shot Put final on Thursday.

  • Olympics: US survive scare to down Spain in basketball quarters

    Olympics: US survive scare to down Spain in basketball quarters

    The US trailed by 11 points early in the second quarter but rallied strongly to reach the men’s basketball semi-finals at the Tokyo Games 95-81 over world champions Spain on Tuesday.

    Having suffered a rare loss in the group phase to France, the star-studded American side were soon under pressure again but led by Kevin Durant rallied to overturn their early deficit.

    The US pulled away in the third quarter having gone in level at 43-all and could eventually ease up with the tie won.

    Durant posted a best 29 points for the US while Spain’s Ricky Rubio ended on the losing side in spite a heroic 38.

    The US will meet Argentina or Australia in the semi-finals on Thursday.

    European champions Slovenia thrashed Germany 94-70 to set up a last four meeting with Italy or France.

    Superstar Luka Doncic contributed 20 points though teammate Zoran Dragic stole the show with 27, aided by five of seven shooting from the three-point line.

  • Olympics: Brume expresses joy at winning first medal, thanks Nigerians for prayers

    Olympics: Brume expresses joy at winning first medal, thanks Nigerians for prayers

    Nigeria’s reigning African record holder, Ese Brume on Tuesday expressed delight at winning the first medal for the country at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Brume on Tuesday won the very first medal for Team Nigeria in the women’s long jump event at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    Brume placed third after she surrendered silver on count back to Britney Reese of the U.S. as both leaped to 6.97m, while Malaika Mihambo of Germany got gold with her last jump with a leap of 7.00m.

    A visibly excited Brume, who was in tears of joy while holding the Nigerian flag said: “Thank you Jesus and thank you all for your prayers. Thank you, thank you so much.”

    Brume breezed through the qualification round on Sunday as her leap of 6.76 m automatically qualified her for Tuesday’s final.

    After an exciting competition during which the lead changed hands frequently between Reese and Brume, Mihambo, who was placed third going into the final round, settled the deal with her last leap.

    Reigning world champion Mihambo started well as she encouraged the crowd to make some noise before taking the lead on her first attempt with a jump of 6.83m.

    But she was instantly overtaken by Nigeria’s in-form jumper Brume with a leading score of 6.97m which set the standard in the first of six attempts.

    The U.S. NCAA Champion and record holder Tara Davis was tipped as one to watch before the final and she got off to a solid start, registering 6.62m to put her in fourth.

    Onto the second attempt and the medal contenders bunched up at the top with Mihambo moving to within 2cm of Brume’s 6.97m and Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic in third (6.91m).

    Reese took top spot on the third attempt, in front of Brume’s jump of 6.97m by virtue of having the second longest effort, but the Brume’s second best jump of 6.88 on her fourth attempt put her back into the overall lead.

    Reese’s fourth attempt of 6.87m meant she trailed Brume by a single centimetre, but the 34-year-old continued to show her great consistency as she moved into the lead on her fifth attempt with a 6.95m jump.

    Into the final round and it was a battle between Mihambo, Reese and Brume for the gold medal.

    On Mihambo’s last jump, she scored 7.00m to move from bronze into gold position.

    Mihambo, who is the current World and European champion, indeed produced the A-level jump and her season’s best (SB) when it mattered the most.

    She overtook Reese on her sixth and final attempt with a jump of 22 feet, 11¾ inches which was enough to win the gold medal as she won the competition by 3cm to become the reigning Olympic champion.

    The 2014 Commonwealth and current African champion, Brume finished knowing she would settle for the bronze position with her final jump score of 6.90m.

    Brittney Reese, who won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and placed fifth at the 2008 Olympics scored 6.84m to take silver.

    The highly-rated Davis came sixth with her best jump of 6.84m.

    Great Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers made the cut to complete six jumps, but came eighth with her longest jump of 6.80m, while Abigail Irozuru also of Great Britain finished down in 11th (6.51m) amongst 12 other athletes who competed in the event.

  • Team Nigeria’s George out of women’s 400m, as Felix eyes honour

    Team Nigeria’s George out of women’s 400m, as Felix eyes honour

    Team Nigeria’s Patience George dropped out of reckoning in the women’s 400 metres event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics losing in the round one heats on Tuesday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that George, who ran in heat 1 of the event at the Olympic Stadium, placed last with a time of 52.41 seconds.

    The 29-year-old Rio 2016 Games semi-finalist, with 52.52, could just not give it as she stayed behind the pack and unable to mount a challenge.

    She would now probably be considering giving up on an individual medal in the event, having not been able to run below 51 seconds in the event in the last five years.

    Her best in recent times has been the 50.76 she did in Beijing in 2015.

    George should now be looking forward to competing successfully in the women’s 4 x 100m relay and 4 x 400m relay.

    Meanwhile, American Allyson Felix is on track to become the most decorated female Olympic track and field athlete.

    Felix qualified for the women’s 400m semi-finals first in her heat, posting a time of 50.84 seconds.

    The 35-year-old is hoping to add to the six gold and three silver medals she already holds from four previous Games.

    This was after having qualified for the 400m and being chosen for the American women’s 4x400m relay team.

  • Tokyo 2020: Oborodudu guarantees Nigeria first Olympics medal

    Tokyo 2020: Oborodudu guarantees Nigeria first Olympics medal

    Finally Team Nigeria is guaranteed a medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, thanks to Blessing Oborodudu for winning her semi-final wrestling bout against Mongolia’s Battsetseg Soronzonbold.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Oborodudu won her semi-final bout against Soronzonbold in the women’s 68 kg wrestling to guarantee Nigeria gold or silver in the final.

    Oborodudu beat Soronzonbold 7-2 to land a first ever medal for Nigeria in wrestling at the Olympics.

    Soronzonbold won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and two gold medals at the 2010 and 2015 World Championships.

    Oborodudu is now guaranteed a gold or silver in the final and will take on 28-year-old Tamyra Mensah from USA on Tuesday.

    Mensah, who won bronze and gold at the World Championships in 2018 and 2019 respectively, beat Ukraine’s Alla Cherkasova 10-4 in the other semi-final.

  • Tokyo Olympics: Brazil end Egypt’s campaign in men’s football

    Tokyo Olympics: Brazil end Egypt’s campaign in men’s football

    Egypt have been eliminated from the Tokyo Olympic Games men’s football event after going down by a lone goal to defending champions Brazil at the Saitama Stadium on Saturday.

    The African representatives had qualified for the quarter-finals after an impressive 2-0 win against Australia in their final Group C game.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Matheus Cunha scored the goal which gave Brazil the slim win and ended African teams’ participation in the global competition.

    Egypt’s well-organised defence managed to keep Brazil at bay in the opening minutes.

    When the South Americans, who were enjoying possession, attempted to make forward runs, they met a well-drilled Egyptian backline.

    In the sixth minute, Brazil won a corner-kick after Diego Carlos spotted Dani Alves on the flank and the former Sevilla full-back floated a cross for Richarlison

    Egypt’s Mohamed El Shenawy tipped the ball over the bar.

    Egypt registered the first shot on goal in the 13th minute after Brazil struggled to clear Karim El Eraki’s cross, giving Akram Tawfik a chance to head just wide of Santos’ far post.

    A good combination between Cunha and Richarlison almost gave Brazil an opener in the 29th minute, but El Shenawy was alert to make a save from the latter’s deflected shot.

    Richarlison made his way from the left flank before he passed the ball to Cunha, who was at the edge of the box and whose blocked cross landed on Douglas Luiz’s path.

    But the latter could not find the back of the net from a promising position in the 34th minute.

    Brazil finally broke the deadlock in the 37th minute when they engineered a counter-attack.

    Richarlison sped towards Egypt’s goal and passed the ball to Cunha, who managed to find the bottom corner with a low strike.

    Egypt were caught off guard as they pleaded for a dismissed penalty kick call and this gave Brazil a chance to counter-attack and score the opener.

    The South Americans almost doubled the lead in the 48th minute when Cunha found himself through on goal.

    But Egypt were saved by El Shenawy, who was quick to close in on his opponent and blocked the ball with his face.

    The African side made changes two minutes after the hour mark as Nasser Maher and Emam Ashour replaced Ahmed Rayan and El Eraki.

    Three minutes later, Malcolm and Reinier were brought on to replace Antony and Claudinho for Brazil.

    The changes looked to have re-energised Egypt who enjoyed more possession a few minutes after and almost grabbed an equaliser in the 73rd minute.

    After a good cross to him, Taher Mohamed attempted to lift the ball across Brazil’s goal but the opponents reacted quickly to clear the danger.

    Egypt came close to getting an equaliser again in the 87th minute when Akram Tawfik was left unmarked at the far post.

    The forward collected a free-kick ball and knocked it down, but Brazil cleared it as he was about to pull the trigger.

    With the elimination of Egypt as well as Cote d’I voire earlier on Saturday, Africa’s campaign in the men’s football event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is over.

  • No Olympic medal for Djokovic as he first loses and then withdraws

    No Olympic medal for Djokovic as he first loses and then withdraws

    World number one Novak Djokovic leaves the Tokyo Olympics empty-handed as he lost the singles bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday.

    The Serb then went on to withdraw injured from his mixed doubles match for bronze.

    World number 11 Carreno Busta wasted a match point in the second-set tiebreak, but the Spaniard never looked back after taking a quick 3-0 lead in the third.

    He secured victory in two hours 47 minutes when Djokovic hit a forehand into the net on a sixth match-point.

    Djokovic then scratched the mixed doubles he was to contest with fellow Serbian Nina Stojanovic, with organisers stating a left shoulder injury.

    The medal went to women’s world number one Ash Barty and John Peers of Australia by walk-over.

    Djokovic, 34, is yet to get an Olympic gold, his best being a 2008 bronze, and promised to try again in three years.

    “I do have a regret for not winning a medal for my country,” he was quoted as saying.

    “Opportunities missed both in doubles and singles. I didn’t deliver yesterday and today, the level of tennis dropped, also due to exhaustion, mentally and physically.

    “But, I don’t regret coming to the Olympics at all.

    “I know that I will bounce back. I will try to keep going for Paris Olympic Games, I will fight for my country to win medals and I’m sorry that I disappointed a lot of sports fans in my country, but that’s sport.”

    His bid for a golden slam also ended in Friday’s singles semi-final loss against German Alexander Zverev.

    But he can still achieve a rare calendar year grand slam if he wins the US Open starting on Aug. 30.

    Sixth seed Carreno Busta beat Djokovic last year at the New York major.

    But that was after the Serbian was disqualified in the first set when a ball he hit in frustration struck a lineswoman.

    On Saturday, Djokovic sent one racquet flying into the stands early in the third set.

    He then got a warning for destroying another one as the final set turned in favour of his opponent.

    “It was an emotional outburst and it happens,” said Djokovic. “It’s tense on the court. In the heat of the battle. It’s not the first time and not the last time probably.

    “It’s not nice of course but it’s part of, I guess, who I am. I don’t like doing these things.

    “I’m sorry for sending this kind of message but we’re all human beings and sometimes it’s difficult to control your emotions.”

    Women’s doubles bronze meanwhile went to Brazilians Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani.

    The pair saved four match-points in the third set to beat Russians Veronica Kudermatova and Elena Vesnina 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.

  • AFN expresses shock over Okagbare’s doping rule violation

    AFN expresses shock over Okagbare’s doping rule violation

    The Athletics Federation of Nigeria,AFN, has expressed shock over the press release by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), suspending Blessing Okagbare for a doping rule violation.

    AFN, in a statement says it is in the process of obtaining the relevant details of the announcement after which a full reaction will be issued.

    The AIU in the press release says the Nigerian 100/200m record holder has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect after a sample collected from the 32 year old tested positive for human Growth Hormone.

    Growth Hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.

    The AIU says it collected the sample from Okagbare during an out-of-competition test on 19 July and revealed the WADA-accredited laboratory that analysed the sample notified the AIU of the adverse analytical finding at mid-day Central European Time yesterday, Friday 30 July.

    Okagbare was notified of the adverse analytical finding and of her provisional suspension Saturday morning in Tokyo. She was scheduled to participate in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m Saturday evening in Tokyo.

  • Okagbare suspended for doping violation, out of Tokyo Olympics

    Okagbare suspended for doping violation, out of Tokyo Olympics

    The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Team Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare with immediate effect after a sample collected from the sprinter tested positive for human growth hormone.

    The AIU, which is an independent integrity body created by the World Athletics, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the growth hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

    A provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.

    The AIU collected the sample from Okagbare during an out-of-competition test on July 19.

    The WADA-accredited laboratory which analysed the sample notified the AIU of the adverse analytical finding at mid-day Central European Time on Friday.

    AIU said the athlete was notified of the adverse analytical finding and of her provisional suspension Saturday morning in Tokyo.

    She was scheduled to participate in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m Saturday evening.

    The AIU said it would make no further comment on the matter at this time.

    Okagbare had on Friday cruised to first place in her 100m heat in 11.05 seconds to qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics.

    She was also due to compete in the 200m, as well as the 4x100m relay.

    The 32-year-old medal prospect for Nigeria won silver in the long jump at Beijing 2008 Olympics.

    At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, she won long jump silver and 100m bronze, while she won the 100m/200m double at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

    She is competing in her fourth Olympics for Nigeria.