Sports
22-time Grand Slam champ Nadal announces retirement from tennis
Rafael Nadal has announced he will retire from tennis at the end of the season.
In a video shared on social media on Thursday, the 38-year-old Spaniard, who has won 22 Grand Slams, including 14 French Opens, said he will retire in November after the Davis Cup finals in Malaga.
Nadal said he has been playing with “limitations” due to injuries, necessitating the need to quit tennis. He also paid tribute to his family and the tennis world.
“Hello everyone. I’m here to let you know that I’m retiring from professional tennis. The reality is that it’s been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations,” he said.
“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end, and I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.
“… my family is everything to me. My mother, I think has made all the sacrifices she had to make so that we would always have everything.
“My wife, Mary, we’ve been together for 19 years. Thank you for everything you have done. I think you’ve been the perfect travel companion during all these years of my career. To come home and see how my son is growing every day has been a force that has really kept me alive and with the necessary energy to continue.
“My sister, I think we have always had an incredible relationship. My uncle who is the reason I started playing tennis. I believe that thanks to him I have also been able to overcome many situations that have been difficult in my sporting career. And to my father who I believe has been a source of inspiration for me in every sense of the word. I think he has been an example of effort, of overcoming. Many. Many thanks to my father in a very, very special way.
“And finally, you the fans. I can’t thank you enough for what you have made me feel. You have given me the energy I need at every moment. Everything I have experienced has been a dream come true. I leave with the absolute peace of mind of having given my best, of having made an effort in every way.”
Mil gracias a todos
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 10, 2024
Many thanks to all
Merci beaucoup à tous
Grazie mille à tutti
谢谢大家
شكرا لكم جميعا
תודה לכולכם
Obrigado a todos
Vielen Dank euch allen
Tack alla
Хвала свима
Gràcies a tots pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi
Dubbed the “king of clay”, Nadal won the French Open on his first attempt as a 19-year-old in 2005. He won the title nine times in his first 10 attempts. He has won it 14 times overall, with a 96.6% win rate.
Nadal won all four Grand Slam titles at 24 years and an Olympic singles gold medal, becoming the youngest player to achieve both feats in the Open Era. His illustrious career includes 92 ATP and 36 masters titles respectively.
Sports
Edo Queens thrash Ethiopia’s CBE in CAF women’s champions league opener
Edo Queens, champions of the 2023/24 Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL), defeated Commercial Bank of Ethiopia FC 3-0 in the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League opener.
Emem Essien, Folashade Ijamilusi and Chukwuamaka Osigwe secured the Nigerian club’s first-ever win in the competition at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday evening.
Edo Queens were off the mark as early as the fifth minute when Ijamilusi’s well-taken cross found Essien, and her effort was caressed into the back of the net.
The striker wrote her name in history as the club’s first player to score at the Women’s Champions League.
Shortly after half-time, Ijamilusi grabbed the second spot for the NWFL champions. She sent the shot into the roof of the net after a good combination play between her and Esther Moses in the box.
Ijamilusi continued her impressive form after scoring a hat trick on her debut for the Super Falcons in late October.
In the 80th minute, substitute Osigwe put the game to bed with Moses, who also assisted the 17-year-old in finishing eloquently to ensure Edo Queens’ emphatic victory.
Edo Queens are at the top of Group B of the competition and will face Egypt’s FC Masar on Wednesday before playing Mamelodi Sundown on November 17.
Sports
Mbappe left out of France squad for November internationals
Kylian Mbappe has been left out of the France squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Israel and Italy after coach Didier Deschamps omitted the Real Madrid superstar from his list of players named on Thursday.
It is the second successive France squad from which the national team captain has been absent after he also missed the October double-header against Israel and Belgium.
The 25-year-old was rested for last month’s matches in order to help him recover from a minor thigh injury suffered playing for Real.
However, that quickly became a source of controversy when he returned to action for Real days later, before France had even played.
Mbappe was absent for France’s 4-1 win over Israel in Budapest and a 2-1 win in Belgium, and instead travelled to Stockholm for a short break with members of his entourage.
It was following that trip that Swedish media reported he was being investigated for an alleged rape.
Mbappe himself said those reports were “fake news” while his lawyer said the player would take action for libel.
A Swedish prosecutor confirmed that an investigation had been opened, without naming Mbappe.
Since then, the ex-Paris Saint-Germain forward has made four appearances for his club, scoring one goal.
However, he remains short of his explosive best form.
Sports
Paris Olympics: FG panel reveals officials responsible for non-registration of Ofili
An investigative committee set up by the federal government has identified the officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) whose inactions led to Favour Ofili‘s non-registration for the women’s 100 meters at the Paris Olympics.
The panel was inaugurated by John Enoh, the recently departed minister of sports development, in September. The committee was tasked with probing Nigeria’s negative exposure at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.
Team Nigeria had a poor outing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning zero medals. In addition to the abysmal performance, the country also dealt with a handful of controversies at the Games.
The most prominent was the exclusion of Ofili from the women’s 100 meters race despite the athlete qualifying. Another was the revelation by Ese Ukpeseraye that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to perform in the Keirin cycling event.
In a report released to journalists on Monday, Mumini Alao, the committee chairman, highlighted the panel’s findings and recommendations after its investigations.
The document said “conflicting evidence” showed that the omission of Ofili’s name “is traceable to any one of the following organisations: Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), World Athletics (WA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”.
The committee added that Rita Mosindi, the secretary general of AFN, was “negligent in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Favour Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner”.
The panel also faulted Samuel Onikeku, AFN technical director, for demonstrating “poor judgement” by not acting on information about Ofili’s non-registration “when he first got a ‘hint’ of the ‘rumour’.”
The committee added that Ofili’s situation might have been rescued had Onikeku reported or acted immediately on the information he received.
The report then recommended that the officials be penalised by the appropriate authority.
The committee said AFN should pay Ofili N8 million “for the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission”.
“The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a formal apology to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment that she caused the Federation and the Nigerian contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on account of the unauthorised that she made on social media X (Formerly Twitter) about the bicycle that she used for the Cycling track event at the Olympics,” the report reads.
The committee presented its findings to ministry of sports on October 22, a day before President Bola Tinubu scrapped the ministry and transferred its functions to the resuscitated National Sports Commission (NSC).
Enoh then handed over the report to Shehu Dikko, the newly appointed chair of NSC, on October 30.
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