A brace by Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman lifted Nigeria’s senior men’s national team to a 2-0 victory over Cameroon in the first knockout stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Abidjan on Saturday.

The Super Eagles thought they had gotten an early lead when Semi Ajayi poked into the net from close range after nine minutes.

Unfortunately, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) ruled the goal out for an offside.

For then, the match became balanced and set for a halftime draw before Oumar Gonzalez’s mistimed touch allowed Victor Osimhen to seize on a loose ball, race forward, and locate Lookman who fired a shot that was fumbled into the net by Fabrice Ondoa.

The three-time African champions started the second part of the game on the front foot as Lookman almost doubled the lead from a close-range free kick that went over the bar.

Nouhou Tolo’s high and wide attempt from a distance was all the five-time African champions could offer in response to getting an equaliser.

The West African side conti
nued to create more chances and within time before the end of the game doubled the lead.

Lookman got his second goal of the night in additional time as he raced into Calvin Bassey’s cross and volleyed into the net.

The win was Nigeria’s third straight win over Cameroon as far as the AFCON was concerned after a penalty victory for the Indomitable Lions over the co-host in 2000.

Nigeria beat Cameroon 2-1 and 3-2 at the 2004 and 2019 AFCONs respectively.

Up next for the three-time African champions is a clash with Angola, a team responsible for their failure to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

A five-day level one Technical Coaching Course organized by the Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Olympic Solidarity has ended at the University of Ghana Sports Directorate.

The training which began on Friday, January 19, ended on Wednesday January 24, 2024, attracted thirty coaches and players including three Nigerians.

Mr. Mohammed Ameen Mohammed Atoum, International Table Tennis Federation expert speaking at the closing ceremony said the training was also at equipping coaches with technical knowledge ahead of the upcoming African Games in March.

He expressed his gratitude to the media for promoting the sport and urged them to continue doing the good work.

He said that the course would help get more people playing the game in the country and beyond.

He said, ‘this is part of the Olympic solidarity programme that they are embarking on would help build coaches especially those working at the grassroots level’.

He added that, ‘I believe that these five days, we were able to pass the information and
hopefully that we would see what they have learned impacting the younger ones in future’.

He said Ghana needs to get its own Table Tennis Court, ‘the country needs to improve on the infrastructure because there is no permanent table tennis court and it is affecting the equipment’.

‘For instance, they adjust the tables every day which is affecting the tables and it is not really good.’

Mr. Charles Tachie-Mensah, the Technical Director said this course would help the coaches to improve on their knowledge.

He said, ‘we had a successful one even though is short but is very deep and we all learned a lot from the instructor both practical and theory.’

Source: Ghana News Agency