Sports
Cameroon in shock defeat by Canada
Africa's fight to win a soccer medal at the Los Angeles Olympic games ended at the quarter final stage when the last of the three competing nations, Egypt, were beaten 2-0 by France, current European champions.Earlier in the preliminary stages of the competition Brazil and Canada had ended the hopes of Morocco and Cameroon to advance further into the competition.
Brazil finished off Morocco with two second half goals in their last match in group 'C' and Canada, runners up in group 'B' thrashed Cameroon 3-1, also in their group's final match. The defeat of Cameroon was least expec- ted in view of its outstanding performance at the same level of the past competitions.
Nigeria misses medals in triple jump
Nigeria's great expectations for a medal in the triple jump were dashed when Ajayi Agbebaku and Taiwo failed to lift themselves high.Ajayi, bronze medalist at the World Athletics championship last year in Helsinki, took only two jumps and retired with an injury. His 16.67 metres from the second effort earned him seventh place, but the effort turned into near disaster as he was unable to get up after landing and was carried off the pitch on a stretcher.
Compatriot Taiwo took all six jumps but his best leap of 16.64 metres could only place him in the ninth position. The event was won by American Al Joyner, a 24-year-old college student. His 17.26m with his second jump was not seriously threatened.
Willie Banks, a silver medalist in Helsinki was beaten out of sight. The bronze went to Keith Connor of Britain. In the 400 metre hurdles Henry Amike of Nigeria barely got into the final, coming in fourth place with a time of 49.36 secs in the second semi-final. The gold was taken for the United States by the incomparable Ed Moses.
Bias against African boxers
Ugandan radio has reported that African boxing officials were planning to lodge a protest with the International Amateur Boxing Association against what they regarded as persistent biased judging against African boxers at the Olympics.If the association failed to guarantee that its judges would not be biased against African boxers, the Chairman of the Uganda National Council of Sports, Masette-Kuuya, warned that Uganda would persuade other African countries participa- ting in the Los Angeles games not to take part in the next Olympics boxing tournament.
Two boxers move on
Two boxers from the Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone have established themselves as prospective medal winners at the Olympic Games. They are G. Sery from Ivory Coast who beat his latest opponent R. Labrosse from the Seychelles in their light-middle- weight contest.In the same division, Cole also disposed of E. Lufui of Tonga in the second round.
Africa's biggest contingent
The biggest African contingent for an Olympic Games which is in Los Angeles, include three-man teams of Guinea and tiny Djibouti to the 100-strong squads from Kenya and Morocco.Some countries, like Djibouti and Gambia are at the games for the first time aided by the International Olympic Committee, which paid for six competitors from each third world country. Three African countries boycotted Los Angeles: Ethiopia, Angola and Upper Volta.
Change of citizenship for Ghanaian sprinter
A Ghanaian sprinter, Ernest Obeng, has announced that he may apply for British citizenship following his withdrawal from the Ghana contingent of the Olympic games.Obeng who is a student at Loughborough University, was pulled out after disagreements with the team officials whom he is said to have upset for wanting to leave the noisy Olympic village to stay with a relative in Los Angeles.
He said: "They picked on me right from the start. I don't know the reason, perhaps it's because I live in Britain. I was disgusted with my treatment and now I am considering applying for British citizenship," Obeng added.
Amoo loses African title
Ray Amoo, the National and West African Flyweight champion, has lost his national crown to No. 1 contender, Jimmy Young. The ex-champion got caught with a beautiful uppercut and it took the breath out of him mid way in the 5th round.Togo loses to Ghana
Ghana's national men's handball team, Great Fingers, showed tremendous im- provement to beat their Togolese counter- parts 21-16 in their international friendly handball match at the Accra Stadium tennis court.Led in attack by skipper Patrick Nuovor who had a lion's share of the goals, Fingers took a commanding 9-7 lead in the first half in which the Togolese scored the first two goals.
Earlier, however, the women's team had lost 4-5 to their Togolese counterparts in the first match of the afternoon.
Hasaacas knock out Hearts
Accra Hearts of Oak have suffered a set- back in their recent chain of successes. In an outstanding knockout match, Sekondi Hasaacas, pushed Hearts out of this years competition with a lone goal. Emmanuel Crankson hit the back of the net in the 43rd minute for Hasaacas.Niger are hockey champs
The Niger Hockey team has won the National Under-21 Boys Hockey trophy for the second consecutive time. At the just-concluded championships, held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Memorial Stadium, the Niger team scored a total of eight points to emerge winners. The team defeated its Bendel and Bauchi counterparts 1-0 each in the final rounds of the competition.Niger had in the preliminaries topped its Group by winning all its matches in pool "A". It defeated Lagos and Gongola 2-0 and 7-1 respectively. Bendel took the second position with six points following a 2-1 win over host Bauchi. while the Bauchi team placed third with 4 points. Both Bendel and Bauchi had also won their group matches in Pools B and C. Nine States participated in the six-day championships aimed at selecting a National side to represent the Country in the African Elimination series of the Junior World cup Hockey contest in Morocco next month.
The states are Bauchi, Gongola, Borno, Lagos, Ogun, Bendel, Oyo, Benue and Niger. Niger won the last championships held in 1980.
