Nigerian football mourns and the six other sporting things we saw last week

Nigerian football was hit by tragedy as the sector lost two illustrious sons just as Euro 2016 commenced in France.

Deaths hit Nigerian football

In the space of three days, Nigerian football lost two icons in Stephen Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu. Keshi died in the early hours of Tuesday and as the nations was getting to grips with that sudden demise, it was announced that Shuaibu Amodu died in his sleep on Friday.

Keshi’s death could well have been from a heart ache for he was left without the two things he loved more than anything in the world – his wife, who died last December and his position as manager of the Super Eagles. For Shuaibu, who was the Technical Manager for the Nigeria Football Federation, there is no explanation and he was buried last Saturday.

Adieu to two great men, who did a lot for football in Nigeria.

Sharapova given two-year ban

Former world No. 1 woman tennis player, Maria Sharapova, has been handed a two-year ban after she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open last January. The 29-year old Russian provided a urine sample on January 26, 2016, and the analysis revealed that she had taken the banned substance, Meldonium. Meldonium is a metabolic modulator, which is included under sections S4 of the Hormone and Metabolic modulators on the 2016 WADA Prohibited list.

Murray returns to Lendl

Beaten French Open finalist, Andy Murray, has returned to Ivan Lendl after splitting from Amelie Mauresmo. The world No.2 said, “Ivan’s single-minded and knows what it takes to win the big events.”

It will be recalled that the Briton won at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympic 2012 gold under the Czech’s stewardship from 2012 to 2014.

Murray continued: “I had two very successful years working with him. I’m looking forward to Ivan joining the team again and helping me try and reach my goals.” This arrangement commences immediately as he hopes to land this year’s Wimbledon crown.

Poland win first ever Euro match

Arkadiusz Milik scored in the second-half for Poland to clinch a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in their Euro 2016 Group C opening match and secure a first ever win at a European Championship at the seventh attempt.

Meanwhile it was Northern Ireland’s first loss in 13 matches as they played their first major international football tournament in 30 years.

Bolt posts season’s best time

With days to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, Olympic 100m champion, Usain Bolt has demonstrated his readiness for another Olympic win as he ran a season’s best of 9.88 at the JN Racers Grand Prix in Kingston on Saturday night.

And this time was achieved against a top-heavy line-up that included Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell. Bolt started badly but recovered enough to power home in first position.

After the race, Bolt said, “It wasn’t a perfect race but the key thing is that I actually won and that’s a good thing and I came out injury-free.”

Brazil eliminated from Copa America

Eight-time Copa America champions, Brazil, were literally ‘bundled’ out of the Centenary edition by Peru, whose forward, Raul Ruidiaz, struck the ball into Brazil’s net on 75 minutes.

Following on from the thrashing at the hands of Germany in the World Cup, Brazil’s football seem to be on an all-time low. Brazil needed just a draw to make the second round but failed to score against a country ranked 48th and their manager, Dunga, is now living on extra time.

And finally…

Leganes climb to Spanish summit

Spanish second division side, Leganes, have won promotion to La Liga for their first time in their history. They did it in their tiny 8,000-capacity stadium. The Madrid-based club will thus host neighbours, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the coming La Liga season.

Leganes confirmed their promotion certain when they defeated Mirandes, and their table toppers, Alaves got a late goal to draw at Gimnastic – who were also in the running for automatic promotion.

Remember, there is nothing that is impossible as long as you are ready to work hard and persevere.