​Seven key sports events that caught our attention weekend

It was decidedly a good weekend for Nigeria in the sports scene with victories in Australia, South Africa and in Chile. The Falconets got their usual victory over South Africa to qualify for an eighth consecutive FIFA U-20 World Cup​. Here are the seven things that really caught our attention.

Eaglets win a fifth world title

Nigeria’s U-17 national team successfully defended the title they won in the UAE in 2013 with Victor Osimhen setting a tournament record of 10 goals – he scored in all seven matches as his team scored 23 goals. Captain of the team, Kelechi Nwakali, was named the MVP of the tournament, he also won the Silver ball for his three goals and three assists.

Nigerian is best at Scrabble

An aptly named Nigerian, Wellington Jighere. has been crowned the Scrabble world champion in Perth, Australia, after he defeated Lewis Mackay 448 points to 426. Jighere was part of about 450 players from around the world and words such as gainlier, avouched and guiro were used in the final game.

Enyimba win record 7th Nigeria league title

They needed just a point from their last two matches but they got that point playing at home against second placed Warri Wolves on Sunday in Aba to become the most titled Nigerian team in the local league. Even though they played with 10 men for almost 25 minutes in the second half, they hung on and Kadiri Ikhana won his fourth league title.

Van der Burgh is best swimmer in the world

Cameron van der Burgh emerged as the best swimmer in Dubai last weekend when he won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 59.05 seconds. The South African is now unbeaten in 24 consecutive appearances in the 50m and 100m breaststroke combined, since he took the silver medal behind Roland Schoeman in Singapore in 2009. His prize was the $100,000 payday as the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup Series came to a close on Saturday evening.

Athletics and Diack facing the wall

Athletics is perhaps facing the biggest scandal in its history after former IAAF president, Lamine Diack, Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack and a former IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, a Russian, were implicated in a plan aimed at covering up doping scandals in Russia. Diack resigned from the IAAF in August, after 16 years as CEO while Massata Diack has also resigned from his post as a marketing executive. The Associated Press reports that Diack is suspected of pocketing 1 million Euros to cover up an undetermined number of positive doping tests. The money is thought to have come from the Russian athletics federation.

Female jockey shocks the male world

A female jockey, Michelle Payne, on an unfashionable horse trained in the bush [according to the experts], won the world’s most coveted race – the Melbourne Cup, last Tuesday.

Payne made reference to the ‘chauvinistic’ atmosphere that pervades horse racing but said she was glad that despite a lot of pessimism, she was given a chance which she grabbed by the balls. She thus became the first female jockey to win the $4.44 million race.

And finally…

Rossi pays the price for that ‘kick’

Jorge Lorenzo won in Valencia on Sunday for his third MotoGP title with Valentino Rossi unable to make up the ground from his starting point as last on the grid – a penalty for his ‘kickout’ at Marc Marquez in the previous race. Rossi could only manage fourth position which handed Lorenzo the win with 330 points, while he ended on 325. The temperamental Italian will have to wait until next year before he can kick on to an eighth title. Think before you kick is the moral here.

Have a wonderful ‘kickless’ week!