The National Association of Athletics Administrations of Zimbabwe has announced an 11-member strong team to represent the country at this month’s Africa Senior Championships, slated for Douala City in Cameroon from June 21 to 26. The team includes locally- and US-based athletes, all keen to make a mark at the continental event in order to book spots for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Coach Mavhuto Tumba, who is at times training a few of the team members at Yadah Athletics Club, professed confidence in this team. “These are athletes who have what it takes to deliver against the best in Africa,”…
Author: Emmanuel Ferdinand
The 2024 Athletics Federation of Nigeria National Trials ended with exciting upsets in both the men’s and women’s 400m finals. Dubem Amene and Esther Joseph reeled off impressive times to outclass the competition ahead of favourites and emerge champions. In the women’s final, Esther Joseph, the African Games silver medalist, won her first national title with a time of 51.70s. She held off Patience Okon-George (51.76s) and Imaobong Nse-Uko (52.04s), who finished second and third, respectively. Joseph’s strong finish on the outside lane secured her victory. The men’s final saw Dubem Amene, a University of Michigan athlete, claim his first…
Nigerian Afrobeats sensation Rema has achieved a historic milestone as his hit song “Calm Down” becomes the first African song to reach 1 billion on-demand streams in the United States. According to the American Music Statistics Company’s Chart Data, the song has surpassed this impressive mark in the US, solidifying Rema’s position as a trailblazer in the music industry. This achievement follows another historic milestone, as the remix featuring Selena Gomez became the first African song to hit 1 billion streams on Spotify last August. The original version of “Calm Down” was also recognised by Guinness World Records as the…
The family of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, rejected the autopsy result conducted by the Lagos State Government, citing discrepancies and demanding an independent toxicology test to find out the major cause of his death. The family’s legal representative, Wahab Shittu, expressed worry at a briefing in Lagos over the autopsy report sent to the Coroner’s court by Prof. Sunday Soyemi, a forensic scientist and pathologist who is attached to LASUTH. He said that the family found traces of discrepancies between the findings of the Nigerian Police and state medical experts. The family is demanding an…
The 2024 FISU World University Mind Sports Championship is slated to take place from June 25–30 in Entebbe, Uganda. Chinese participants have confirmed their participation to attend and compete in chess and bridge. According to the vice president of the International University Sports Federation, Peninah Aligawesa Kabenge, China was among the very first countries to confirm its participation in this championship. It is reported that Kabenge has praised the strong performance China put up in mind sports—it won gold at the 2020 FISU World University Championship Mind Sports. The FISU World University Championship is an international, multi-sport event that attracts…
The Ministry of Sports has honoured each of the Harambee Junior Starlets players with Sh300,000 after they created history by qualifying for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup for the first time ever following a 5-0 thrashing of Burundi. The Junior Starlets defeated the Burundians 2-0 on Sunday at the Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi, winning the final qualification tie with a 5-0 aggregate score and securing a spot in the Dominican Republic in October. CS Ababu Namwamba hosted the team for dinner and congratulated their performance, saying this proves the bottom-up model policy of the Talanta Hela Initiative to great…
Witold Banka, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, has concluded a successful visit to Zimbabwe, where he held very useful discussions with various stakeholders within the sports industry. The meetings focused on enhancing anti-doping regulations, especially the Sport Integrity Bill currently being drafted by the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture. During the four-day visit, Banka met with representatives from the Ministry, Sports and Recreation Commission, Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, National Anti-Doping Coordinating Committee, athletes, and other key stakeholders. The discussions were on the strengthening of the anti-doping system in Zimbabwe, Africa, and globally. The Sport Integrity Bill, expected…
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Cup is set to take place in South Africa from June 26 to July 7, featuring 12 teams from the region. Namibia has been drawn into Group C alongside Angola, Lesotho, and Seychelles, making for a highly competitive pool stage. The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) is a regional football organisation that plays a vital role in promoting and developing football in Southern Africa. Established in 1997, COSAFA’s primary objective is to foster unity, cooperation, and development among its member associations while also enhancing the region’s football profile globally. COSAFA’s…
Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya announced on Monday that he would face reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 on August 17 in Perth, Australia. While the UFC is yet to confirm the fight card, a social media post from Adesanya and a recent video hint from Dana White, the UFC President, made the matchup possible. This would be the first time Adesanya competes inside the Octagon since he lost the belt to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023. On the other hand, this will be the first title defence for South African UFC fighter Du Plessis…
The Nigerian film industry was, without doubt, plunged into a mourning state on Sunday, June 16, after the death of a veteran actress by the name of Stella Ikwuegbu, who has been the iconic mother figure in most of Nollywood’s defining movies. She died of leg cancer, to which she succumbed after a brave fight. This sad news was disclosed by movie producer Stanley Nwoko, known as Stanley Ontop, through his Instagram page, followed by a heart-wrenching video of her colleagues and her bereaved daughter showing how they were anguished. He wrote, ‘’Popular Nollywood actress/veteran Mrs Stella Ikwuegbu is dead.…