Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) junior tennis sensation, Godgift Timibra who is unseeded at the ongoing 41st CBN Senior Tennis Open created an upset on Wednesday when he sent
tournament's number nine seed Ikechukwu Iloputa packing with a 6-4, 6-4 scoreline.
Six-time winner, Abdulmumuni Babalola deployed his wealth of experience to outsmart Jebutu Emnanuel 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarter final as well.
In another men's singles game, Nonso Madueke outclassed Leo Anthony 6-1, 6-0 while Christian Paul beat Oyo State's Adewale Samson 6-1, 6-3.
Tournament's top seed, Sylvester Emmanuel triumphed over Tochukwu Eze, 6-4, 6-2 as number two seed Joseph Imeh stopped John Henry 6-3, 6-3.
In the ladies category, Oyinlomo Quadre, Bukola Olowu, tournament top seed, Blessing Samuel, Blessing Anuna and number two seed, Christy Agugbom have also moved to the next stage of the competition.
Meanwhile, women's single defending champion, Sarah Adegoke, won't defend the title due to other career engagements, thereby throwing the title open as a new champion must emerge this year.
On paper, it could be a two-horse race between Blessing Samuel who survived a scare from Omolade Aderemi and youngster Oyinlomo Quadre.
Caption: Six-time winner, Babalola set to reclaim the CBN title he lost last year to Sylvester Emmanuel.
Sunday, June 23
Cynosure FC vs Niger Tornadoes (Makurdi)
Warri Wolves vs Rivers United (Yenagoa)
Lobi Stars vs Abia Warriors (Akure)
Smart City vs Shooting Stars (Ijebu-Ode)
Bendel Insurance vs El-Kanemi Warriors (Jos)
Monday, June 24
EFCC FC vs Aklosendi FC (Lokoja)
Plateau United vs Calabar Rovers
Kano Pillars vs Kwara United
Shooting Stars 2 Katsina Utd 0
Warri Wolves 1 Ambassador 0
Smart City 3 Enyimba 2
Abia Warriors 2 Gateway 0
Rivers Utd 3 Akwa Utd 0
Lobi Stars 2 Rangers 0
EFCC FC 1 Sunshine 0
Kwara Utd 1 Crown FC 1
(Kwara win 5-4 on penalties)
Aklosendi FC 1 Nasarawa Utd 0
Bendel Ins. 4 Ekiti Utd 2
Tornadoes 1 Gombe Utd 0
El-Kanemi 3 PH City 0 (W/O)
Calabar Rovers 1 Wikki Tourists 1
(Rovers win 4-2 on penalties)
Wednesday June 19, Thursday June 20
Rangers
vs Lobi Stars (Minna)
Gateway
vs Abia Warriors (Warri)
Ambassador
(KD) vs Warri Wolves (Lokoja)
Rivers
Utd vs Akwa Utd (Enugu)
Delta
Force vs Cynosure (EB) (Portharcourt)
Gombe Utd vs Niger Tornadoes (Lafia)
Katsina
Utd vs Shooting Stars (Abuja)
Kogi Utd
vs Plateau Utd (Abuja)
ABS FC
vs Kano Pillars (Lokoja)
EFCC vs
Sunshine Stars (Edo University Iyamho)
Smart
City (LG) vs Enyimba (University of Benin)
Crown
FC vs Kwara Utd (Osogbo)
Aklosendi
vs Nasarawa Utd (Makurdi)
Portharcout
City vs El Kanemi Warriors (Abuja)
Calabar
Rovers vs Wikki Tourists (Makurdi)
Ekiti United vs Bendel Insurance (Lokoja)
The boxing world is still shaken from Anthony Joshua’s shock loss on June 1 to Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden.
AJ lost his WBO, IBF, IBO and WBA (super) heavyweight titles on the night, but he has already invoked his rematch clause that is set to take effect in November this year.
Forer super middleweight world champion George Groves stopped by talkSPORT On Friday with Jim White and discussed how although AJ has had quite an easy route to the top, he always stepped up when it mattered.
“Anthony Joshua, he’s someone I’ve always had a lot of time for and a lot of respect for because he has a lot of opportunities that he hasn’t had to work that hard for, but he’s then always stepped up to the mark and delivered.
“He’s had the backing of Matchroom, who pretty much build their boxing around him as of late and they’ve dominated not just here in the UK, but in the States [too] with their DAZN deal, they’re doing fantastic.
“Sky Sports, they’ve got behind him. But, he’s always stepped up to the plate, he can’t let people make excuses for him. Talk about his lack of experience, his lack of amateur pedigree – he’s an Olympic gold medallist, do you know what I mean? He’s a unified world champion.”
Groves went on to talk about how AJ might be too afraid to make changes to his team in the wake of the defeat, even though there has been calls from Lennox Lewis and Frank Warren for the Watford-born star to ditch trainer Rob McCracken.
“I personally feel he’s got to make changes to his team. Whether he does that or not, I’m not sure. I’m not sure if he’s worried about the public backlash if he does that or if he just doesn’t have that in him.
“You know, I’ve been in that situation before where I knew I had to make changes internally with the team I was working with but I was too afraid of doing that because if it doesn’t come off, that’ll be another reason why you haven’t succeeded.”
On the rematch with Ruiz – which could still be held in the UK or US – Saint George feels AJ had to take it and many of the rumours of why Joshua underperformed in the original encounter could be plausible.
“He has to take the rematch with Ruiz. He’s not going to have the time to get his eye back in with a warmup fight or anything like that – he has the beating of Ruiz. He certainly does.
“He didn’t look right on fight night, he didn’t look right in the build up. The rumours out there that he got concussed in sparring or he had a panic attack in the changing room – I feel they are all viable reasons.”
Caption: Anthony Joshua (right) being outpunched by Ruiz, during their June 1 showdown in US.
Source: talksport.com/sport/boxing
