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Odera Chidom quits D’Tigress, says NBBF lacks professionalism

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10 months ago

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Odera Chidom, the D’Tigress player, says she is quitting the Nigerian national basketball team.

In a Twitter post, Chidom said the move was due to the alleged unprofessionalism of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).

Last week, NBBF announced open tryouts for the women’s team in Chicago, Lagos, and Abuja from July 8 to 11.

According to the federation, the tryouts were aimed at selecting a team for the forthcoming 2023 Women’s AfroBasket, billed to commence on July 28.

Commenting on the tryouts, Chidom said she would not attend it because “I have standards of how I conduct business at the professional level, and Nigeria continues to disappoint me”.

Speaking further with ESPN, the 28-year-old accused the NBBF of “lacking professionalism”, adding that she “cannot continue to have this added stress in my life”.

“The trigger for me was seeing an Instagram post of open tryouts in three different locations three weeks before Afrobasket,” Chisom said.

“I will not be attending. I don’t think that’s professional at all. I consider myself a professional. And I don’t think it’s okay for me to pay my way to try out for something when I think I have a resume that speaks for itself.

“I have standards of how I conduct business at the professional level, and Nigeria continues to disappoint me.

“This is a national team. Generally, what you do is you invite a group of professionals, and you compete in a camp, and then the 12 best at that camp get to compete on whatever team, and that is mostly how a national team is conducted.

“I was with my family when I got the message, and I just was in shock. Playing for the national team is something that my family is proud of, that I am proud of as it holds a lot of weight for me, and the way that they conduct themselves is taking all of that away from us. It’s just so disheartening.

“I have been blessed to play with a lot of teams where I have seen professionalism from management, and I don’t see those same qualities within our own federation. So to continuously keep coming back to a federation that I feel does not value me is not worth it.

“It’s really difficult to not have any sense of communication, not have any sense of professionalism. All of our information comes from Twitter and social media.

“We never know what’s going on. We ask a lot of questions about just simple things, of when camp is, where it will be held, and who the coaches are, and we get responses like ‘please be patient’.

“Everything that we do is super last minute. The level of professionalism is just not up to par with the constant production that we produce.”

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NFF unveils Finidi as Eagles coach, announces technical crew

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2 days ago

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May 13, 2024 4:50 pm

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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.

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Osimhen’s Champions League dream dies as Juventus and Bologna seal European qualification ahead of Napoli

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2 days ago

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May 13, 2024 8:46 am

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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

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Amusan sets world leading record in 100m hurdles

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2 days ago

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May 13, 2024 8:24 am

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Tobi Amusan ran a world-leading 12.40 seconds (0.9m/s) to win the 100m hurdles at Saturday’s inaugural Jamaica Athletics Invitational in Kingston.

The world record holder claimed the win ahead of Danielle Williams, the world champion who ran a season’s best 12.46 seconds, and American Christina Clemons who was third with 12.54 seconds.

The Nigerian has now taken over the world lead from American Tonea Marshall who had run 12.42 seconds in late April.

Amusan’s latest win comes two months before the Paris 2024 Olympics.

John Enoh, the minister of sports development, took to X to congratulate the pace-setter over the feat.

“Tobi, you keep making our country proud. Paris Olympics is around the corner, your performance gives us hope just like others, that Nigeria is set to break a jinx. Keep soaring, we are proud of you,” the minister’s post reads in part.

The 26-year-old recently set a new African record of 7.77s in the 60m hurdles event at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan, breaking the 25-year-old record held by Gloria Alozie.

She is expected to spearhead the Nigerian contingent’s hopes for gold medals at the Olympics set to commence on July 26 at France’s national stadium.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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