The Nigerian duo of Edem Offiong and Olajide Omotayo have secured tickets to represent the country at the table tennis event of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The Nigerians achieved the feat on Friday after defeating their respective opponents in the ITTF Africa Olympics qualifiers semi-final in Kigali, Rwanda.

In the men’s singles event, Omotayo defeated Congo-Brazaville’s Saheed Idowu in four straight sets to book his second appearance at the Olympics.

He featured at the Tokyo Olympics but lost 4-0 to Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia in the first round of the men’s singles event.

Olajide Omotayo has a ticket to Paris, it would be his 2nd appearance at the @Olympics.

The Nigerian was dominant in a 4-0 win over Congo-Brazzaville Saheed Idowu in the semis. #RoadToParis2024 pic.twitter.com/7zllqtkwjh

— ITTF-Africa (@ITTFAfrica) May 17, 2024

Offiong defeated Gracie Fadwa of Tunisia 4-2 in the women’s singles to earn her fifth appearance at the Olympic games.

The 37-year-old made her Olympic debut in Athens in 2004 and never failed to qualify ever since.

At the last Olympics, the Calabar-born player progressed to the second round, where Zhang Lily of the US humbled her in a match that lasted just 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, Fatimo Bello lost to Cameroon’s Hanffoy Sarah 4-2 in the women’s singles. The Cameroonian earned the Olympic ticket, and Bello would have to face Gracie Fadwa for the final automatic berth on Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has unveiled Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

The federation presented the newly appointed manager to the public on Monday at the media centre of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja

In April, Finidi was appointed as the permanent replacement for Jose Peseiro, who the former Nigerian international worked with as an assistant coach for 20 months.

At the unveiling ceremony, the 53-year-old’s technical crew members were also announced.

Daniel Amokachi, former Super Eagles player, will be the assistant coach. Olatunji Baruwa is named the goalkeeper trainer, Chima Onyeka slots in as fitness trainer and Benjamin James will also be a backroom staff member.

Dignitaries present at the unveiling include John Enoh, minister of sports development; Ibrahim Gusau, president of NFF; and Augustine Eguavoen, technical director of NFF.

Finidi was the Eagles’ interim head coach for two international friendlies against Ghana and Mali in March.

He led the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in his first game at the helm but lost 2-0 to Mali in the second game.

Finidi’s immediate task with the Super Eagles will be the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in June.

The Eagles drew their first two games of the campaign to Lesotho and Zimbabwe, lagging behind in third place in Group C.

Napoli’s hopes of European glory have been dealt a severe blow as Juventus and Bologna secure coveted spots in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League.

Italian giants Juventus and surprise package Bologna officially booked their places in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League following Atalanta’s crucial victory over Roma, leaving Napoli behind in the race for European football.

Despite Italy securing five UCL participants, last season’s champions Napoli will not be one of them. The Partenopei have put up a disastrous title defence and are in eighth place with only 51 points.

Napoli are nine points away from Roma in sixth place with only two matches left and are mathematically unable to reach the UCL places even if the Serie A gets six representatives in the revamped UCL formats.

Despite Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen’s contribution of 15 goals and four assists in 22 appearances, Napoli’s disappointing campaign is under threat of ending with no promise of European football next season even if Serie A gets the maximum number of slots for the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League.

For Juventus, the upcoming Champions League campaign marks a return to Europe’s premier club competition after a one-year absence after being suspended from continental football in the 2023/24 season following their breach of financial fair play regulations, but they have bounced back this season to secure a coveted spot in the revamped Champions League format.

Meanwhile, Bologna’s sealed their first-ever appearance in the main stages of the Champions League after last playing in the qualifying stages for the European Cup in 1964.

Their remarkable achievement caps off a remarkable season under the leadership of former Barcelona and Inter midfielder Thiago Motta