2019/20 NPFL Match Day 17 fixtures

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Abia Warriors vs Warri Wolves
Enyimba          vs Enugu Rangers (pp)
Katsina United vs FC IfeanyiUbah
Akwa United    vs Heartland
Adamawa United vs Kwara United
Sunshine Stars     vs Kano Pillars
MFM FC, Lagos   vs Plateau United
Rivers United      vs Wikki Tourists
Dakkada Int.        vs Jigawa Stars
Lobi Stars             vs Nasarawa United

Australian Open: Qiang sends Serena Williams packing

Former world number one, Serena Williams, says she made "far too many errors to be a professional athlete" as she was knocked out in the Australian Open third round, reports bbc.com.
The 38-year-old American lost 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 to China's 27th seed Wang Qiang.
The defeat means Williams' quest for a 24th Grand Slam singles title goes on.
"I can't play like that. I literally can't do that again. That's unprofessional. It's not cool," Williams said.
The seven-time champion in Melbourne beat 28-year-old Wang in just 44 minutes at the US Open in September when the Chinese player won only one game and 15 points.
That was not reflective of the ability of a player who has been a regular fixture in the world's top 30 over the past 18 months and reached a career high of 12 after her run in New York.
This time, after initially flinching when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, she made amends in spectacular fashion.
Wang had the tools to hurt Williams and continued to execute them in a third set in which most observers would have backed her illustrious opponent to go on and win.
After briefly faltering again as Williams rallied, Wang sealed victory on her third match point.
"I honestly didn't think I was going to lose that match," said Williams when asked on her thoughts after levelling at one set all.
Williams, seeded eighth, came into the match on the back of winning the Auckland Classic and relatively straightforward wins over Russia's Anastasia Potapova and Slovakia's Tamara Zidansek.
Instead of those results laying the platform for another title challenge, they preceded her earliest exit at the Australian Open since 2006.
"I made a lot of errors. I didn't hit any of those shots in New York or in general in a really long time," Williams said.
"I just made far too many errors to be a professional athlete today.
"I'm definitely going to be training tomorrow. That's first and foremost, to make sure I don't do this again."
Opportunities to equal Margaret Court's record of Grand Slam singles titles are running out for Williams, who is in her 23rd year as a professional.
She has not won a Slam since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was eight weeks pregnant.
Williams says she still has the drive to win that elusive 24th title and believes she can still match Australian Court.
"I definitely do believe or I wouldn't be on tour," she said.
"I don't play just to have fun. To lose is really not fun."

2019/20 NPFL Match Day 16 results, scorers

*Plateau United 5 Adamawa United 0
Ibrahim Mustapha (brace)
Oche Ochowechi
Uche Onwuasoanya
Abba Umar

*Enugu Rangers 3 Abia Warriors 1
Ifeanyi George-Rangers (brace)
Ibrahim Olawoyin-Rangers
Lukman Bello-Abia Warriors.

*FC IfeanyiUbah 2 Enyimba 0
Uche Sebastine
Ikenna Cooper
 
*Kano Pillars 2 Akwa United 0
Nyima Nwagua (76th min)
Rabiu Ali (79th min)

*Wikki Tourists 2 MFM FC, Lagos 1
Promise Damala-Wikki
Olushola Ajala-Wikki (45th min)
Chimezie Izuchukwu-MFM (47th min)

*Nasarawa United 1 Warri Wolves 2
Godwin Atsimene-Wolves (26th, 90th min)
Abubakar Lawal-Nasarawa Utd (70th min)

*Jigawa Stars 1 Rivers United 1
Cletus Emotan-Rivers Utd (14th min)
Festus Austin-Rivers Utd (83rd min, own goal)

*Lobi Stars 0 Dakkada Int. 0

*Kwara United 0 Sunshine Stars 0

*Heartland 0 Katsina United 0

2019/20 NPFL Match Day 16 fixtures

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Enugu Rangers vs Abia Warriors
FC IfeanyiUbah vs Enyimba
Heartland           vs Katsina United
Kano Pillars        vs Akwa United
Kwara United     vs Sunshine Stars
Plateau United   vs Adamawa United
Wikki Tourists   vs MFM FC, Lagos
Lobi Stars           vs Dakkada Int.
Nasarawa United vs Warri Wolves
Jigawa Stars          vs Rivers United

2019/20 NPFL Match Day 15 results, scorers

*Warri Wolves 1 Enugu Rangers 2
Kelvin Itoya-Rangers (3rd min)
Kenechukwu Agu-Rangers (14th min)
Charles Atsemene-Wolves (41st min)

*Abia Warriors 2 FC IfeanyiUbah 1
Lukman Bello (28th min)
Yakub Hammed (75th min)
Jimoh Gbadamosi-IfeanyiUbah (55th min)

*Enyimba 0 Heartland 2
Sadiq Abubakar (30th min)
Chukwuemeka Obioma (+45 min)

*Katsina United 1 Kano Pillars 1
Tasiu Lawal (44th min)
Seun Adelani Yusuf-Pillars (34th min)

*Akwa United 0 Kwara United 2
Alao Dambanni (26th, 49th min)

*Sunshine Stars 2 Plateau United 1
Timileyin Ogunniyi (11th min)
Fuad Ekelojuoti (33rd min)
Uche Onwuasoanya-Plateau (57th min)

*Adamawa United 0 Wikki Tourists 0

*MFM FC, Lagos 2 Jigawa Stars 1
Joshua Akpudje (41st, 69th min)
Joshua Akpudje (30th min, own goal)

*Rivers United 2 Lobi Stars 1
Nelson Esor (2nd min)
Malachi Ohawume (75th min)
John Lazarus-Lobi Stars (19th min)


*Dakkada Int. 0 Nasarawa United 3
Ibrahim Matthew (30th min)
Anas Yusuf (89th, 94th min)

Ex-World Cup Turkish star, Hakan Sukur, turns taxi driver in US

Hakan Sukur, Turkey's greatest ever goalscorer and once one of Europe's most prolific strikers has become a cab driver in the United States, reports www.bbc.com.

So, how did he end up driving taxis and selling books for a living in the US, in exile from his home country?

According to an interview with German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, the 48-year-old former striker's life has taken an unusual and troubling turn since retiring from football in 2008.

He claims that a rift with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has exposed him to death threats, false accusations and lack of access to funds.

"I have nothing left, Erdogan took everything: my right to liberty, freedom of expression and right to work," the man who scored what remains the fastest ever World Cup goal coming just 11 seconds after kick-off against South Korea in 200 told the paper.

Sukur scored 51 goals in 112 appearances for Turkey between 1992 and 2007. He was part of the Turkish side that finished third at the 2002 World Cup.

The former Blackburn player spent the majority of his career at Galatasaray and is the all-time leading goalscorer in the Super Lig - the Turkish top flight.

After retiring from football, he went into politics. In 2011, Sukur won a seat in Turkey's Parliament as a member of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party .

But he was also tied to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic scholar and rival of Erdogan, whom the Turkish President blamed for a bloody attempted coup in 2016.

Sukur, by then living in the US, reportedly denounced the attempted coup, but was nonetheless, in 2017, described by Turkish-run state media as a "fugitive member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO)."

That report describes him living in a $3m house, running a cafe at Palo Alto, "the richest area of San Francisco Bay Area."

Sukur tells a less fun-sounding story.

"I moved to the United States, initially running a cafe in California, but strange people kept coming into the bar," he told Welt am Sonntag. "Now I drive for Uber and I sell books."

He has said that his houses, businesses and bank accounts in Turkey had all been seized by Erdogan's government.

Rematch: I will stop Wilder in round two----Fury

Briton Tyson Fury has vowed to knock Deontay Wilder, 40-0, (39 KO) out in the second round of their eagerly-anticipated heavyweight rematch next month.

Fury [28-0-1] and Wilder will go head-to-head at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden
Arena on February 22, 14 months after their controversial opening bout.

It will be recalled that in December 2018, Fury outboxed WBC heavyweight champion Wilder despite suffering two knockdowns, but the match was drawn.

Speaking at the opening press conference, Fury said: "Deontay knows he was rocked three or four times in the last fight and I didn't have the gas to finish him. This time I can turn that screwdriver until he is gone.

"You are going to sleep in two rounds. I keep having the same dream about round two.
I am playing poker and I get dealt the number two card. He is getting knocked out in round two, 100 per cent.

"What is going to happen is that I am going to get what I won last time. I am going to get that green belt, I am also going to get the Ring Magazine, and I am also going to keep my lineal championship, too.

"And if he wants to rematch again, no problem. You beat a man once, you beat him again, you beat him three times in a row."

Fury, 31, has teamed up with Javan 'Sugar' Hill – the nephew of the late trainer Emmanuel Steward – after splitting from Ben Davison.

Explaining the decision to switch trainers for the rematch, he said: "I know I am not going to get a decision in the United States.

"I hired him [Hill] for a knockout. That's the game plan. If I wasn't looking for a knockout I would have kept hold of Davison.

"I am looking for knockout number 21 [of his career]. That is brutally honest, that is coming from the heart."

The two fighters faced off before and after Monday's press conference before exchanging a handshake.

"I am prepared more than ever for this fight," said Wilder, 34. "I knocked him out the first time.
"I told Fury two years ago I was going to baptise him and I did just that.  Rising up is part of the baptism.

"I told him he was going to go 'timber' and he did just that. This time around, it is called unfinished business and he won't be able to get back up. I am going to knock him out.

"I am the Lion. I am the king of the jungle and come February 22 I am going to rip his
head off his body. I am going to knock him out of those ropes."
.........................

Caption: 
Ferocious Fury (right) lands a punch on Wilder, during their first meeting in December 2018. The rematch is scheduled to hold in Las Vegas next month.