Category: Sports

Nigeria has won her third game against Ghana by 62 runs at the ongoing Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) Women’s Invitational in Lagos.

The game at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Cricket Oval on Friday, saw the Ghanaian team win toss and opted to field.

Nigeria had a slow start to the game but usual suspects Salome Sunday 27(18) and Agatha Obulor 25(34) helped kept the scoreboard ticking for the Nigerian side.

The hosts eventually sailed to 120 runs for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs.

In the second innings, Ghana relied on Rasidatu Salia 20(29) and Komalpreet Grewal 11(23) to help see the side reach the target but their efforts wasn’t enough.

Nigeria’s Racheal Samson 4/18 and Peculiar Agboya 2/18 did the damage against the Ghanaian side as they limited their West African rivals to 58 for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.

After the game, Rhyda Ofori, Captain of the Ghanaian side, said there are lots of lessons garnered so far from the tournament.

“We lost all our matches in the tournament, but it’s not the end of Women’s cricket in Ghana.

“We have learnt some lessons here and we will take it home and improve on our game. Hopefully, we will come back better and stronger,” Ofori said.

On her part, Blessing Etim, Captain of the Nigerian team, lauded her team’s efforts, adding however that they needed to do more.

“The win means a lot to us because we have put up a great effort and teamwork to ensure that we go unbeaten throughout this tournament.

“Although we need to come through with our batting and bring our ‘A’ game as well as we face Rwanda on Saturday,” Etim added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ghana has exited the tournament, losing all of its matches to Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, along side Nigeria.

Meanwhile, host Nigeria will face Rwanda in the last group game while Sierra Leone will face Cameroon, both on Saturday.

The tournament, which began on Monday, is expected to end on Sunday.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Seychelles men’s national football team on Tuesday won one out of two friendly matches against Bangladesh.

The Seychelles’ side won the second match 1-0 after losing the first game by the same score on Sunday. The team, led by coach Vivian Bothe, was without a win since November 2021 despite playing 10 games.

The winning goal on Tuesday came from Seychellois Michael Mancienne, who plays for the English club Burton Albion, from the penalty spot after 60 minutes of play at the Synthetic District Stadium in Bangladesh.

Seychelles got the penalty after Saad Uddin’s challenge against Seychellois full-back Daryl Louis inside the penalty box in the second half. Saad was lucky not to get a red card for the foul in which he appeared to kick the Seychelles defender on the head.

The game ended with a solitary goal and this was the first-ever international goal for Mancienne with the Seychelles side. He has played five matches with the Seychelles national team.

The win means that the friendly series ended with a win for both teams. In the first match on Sunday, it was Finland-born Bangladeshi defender Tariq Raihan Kazi who scored the winner in the 43rd minute of the game.

The two friendly matches were part of the country’s preparations for the upcoming Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) in Madagascar, which pits nations in the region against each other in a multi-sports event.

One of Seychelles football’s biggest achievements in the competition is winning the gold medal at the 2011 edition of the games held on home soil.

The Seychellois side will be hoping to put in another good performance this time around. All teams in the region are ranked higher than Seychelles on the FIFA men’s football world ranking.

Seychelles is ranked at 199th position with Madagascar having the highest in the region at 102nd. Comoros is at 129th, Mauritius 180th, and Maldives 156th.

Source: Seychelles News Agency