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| AFRICA: THE YEAR IN SPORTS by Sports Editor -Melvine-Vince A.O Brown |
2/2/2009 |
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The performance of Africans this year in sports is kind of mixed bag of successes and failures especially in the world arenas. But it is safe to say that the positives very much out weighs the negatives. There is no doubt in my mind that the level of athletes, while not at the highest level is improving every time. From the most beautiful game to boxing, from basketball to Golf and athletics, and from Rugby to Cricket
The year in African international sports started with the African Cup of Nations, that was successfully held January/February in Ghana. I have to give it up for the host nation. It was one of the best in the organisation of the tournament, that we have seen in recent memory
of any nation hosting the event. It was really very enjoyable and was held to the highest level, that non have seen in the African shore. In fact the standard was so high that the next nation hosting it, Angola, will have to burst their asses in order to be able to top what Ghana did in the last tournament, indeed.
Virtually every aspect of the tournament was of the highest quality. From transportations to accommodations, from players to stadiums, from media communication centres to logistics etc, they were all of high standard. The officiating of the matches were much better than it used to be, though in all these, there is always room for improvement. While I acknowledge the fact that, one can never satisfy everybody at the same time, it is a known secret that over ninety percent of real football fans - that is those who love the game, appreciates it's beauty and view it without much biasness, gave their kudos to the host nation. Every other nation that want to host it should emulate what Ghana did this year, and do their utmost best to surpass the standard they set.
The comraderie among players and the relaxed atmosphere among fans were very incredible to say the least. The tournament was very colourful as usual, with fans painting their faces with the colours of their countries and wearing their favourite players jersey shirts with names and numbers. It was a joyous occasion for the fans of the round leather. It was truly a period of total relaxation and enjoyment for everyone involved.
In the group stage, Ghana in Group A made good use of home advantage and won their three matches and finished top of the table, while Guinea finished second. Also in Group B one of the few favourites Cote d' Ivoire top the table by winning their three matches while Nigeria struggled to squeeze through in the second place. The Super Eagles were the biggest disappointment of the tournament, followed by Senegal and South Africa who did not even qualify for the quarter finals. The eventual champions Egypt who many soccer pundits did not give chance of retaining the cup, top Group C table as Cameroon finished second. Group D saw Tunisia topping the table while Angola came second.
During the tournament one of the African's top footballer, the Cameroonian international and New Castle United player, Geremi Njitap, had this to say about the quality of the tournament, " African football has improved a lot. We had some top class players at this tournament, and this ensured the quality remained at a high level." The experienced footballer who is plying his trade in the United Kingdom, continued in the same breath and said, " This is my fifth nations cup, and it's one of the best organised." His teammate, Samuel Etoo, broke the long time record of the highest goal scorer in ACN history, held by the Ivorian striker Mr Poku at 14 goals and took it to 16 goals.
While the African soccer fiesta did not produce new stars like in the days when African based players dorminated it, one player stood out for me throughout the tournament, he was phenomenal, Manuel Agogo, the Ghanaian striker was at the time playing for Northingham Forest, a division two club in England, it did not deter him from shining. Though he scored only three goals, his hard work and determination to shine helped his country a lot in their matches. Of the four teams in the tournament that had better chances of winning the trophy, Cote d' Ivoire was topping the list, but unfortunately they seemed to disintegrate towards the ending part of the fiesta. Egypt, the defending champion end up beating Cameroon in the final 1 - 0 to retain the cup, making it a record of sixth time. The disappointment of the tournament's favourite Cote d' Ivoire was completed when Ghana piped them 4 - 1 in the third place match.
In boxing the first African to win WBC heavy weight champions belt, Samuel "The Nigerian nightmare" Peters successfully defended his belt on the 8th of March in Mexico against the former champion Oleg Maskaev of Russia, by knocking him out in the sixth round of the scheduled 12 rounds. Peters needed to win the match to show that he is the rightful holder of the belt after the way it was stripped from Maskaev by the WBC and handed over to Peters because Maskaev withdrew from their scheduled match in October 2007. So Peters needed to prove to all that he deserved to be champion, while Maskaev was out to prove that Peters was just a pretender to the crown. Peters has since last October lost the belt to a former champion Emeritus, Vitaly Klischko. No doubt he will soon regain the belt.
The only man to have beaten Samuel Peters in the ring. Jaffa " The African Assassin" Balagou, the reigning IBF Continental Africa Cruiserweight champion did very well too.
The summer Olympic games in Beijing ended with Africa doing very well in their traditional long distance races mainly dominated by the Eastern countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and the Northern country of Morocco. While it will not be possible for me to mention all those that won medals in the last Olympics, there are a number of them that I must not fail to mention here. In the 800m women, Pamela Jelimo, (Kenya) took gold while compatriot Janet Jepkosgei took silver and Hasna Benhassi of Morocco took bronze. The 800m men was won by Wilfred Bungei (Kenya). After winning the gold, the athlete who has finally managed to win an Olympic gold said, " Winning a gold medal in the Olympics is like winning an Emmy award, or winning a Nobel Prize." The man who was visibly elated after he won, went to say, " For a sports person this is the highest prize that you can get whatever your sport. A medal in the Olympics is the best," he concluded.
In the 3,000 Steeplechase men, the Kenyan world champion, Brimin Kiprop Kipruto, the man whom the passport office made a mistake in his first name of Firmin and wrote Brimin took the gold, while the French man, Mahiedine Mekhissi, came between him and his friend, Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong, who took silver and bronze respectively. It is worthy of note at this juncture to mention that Kenya has won gold in this event in every Olympics since 1984. The 10,000m women category saw Tirunesh Dibaba, of Ethiopia, not only winning the gold, but also achieving it with a new Olympic record of 29:54.66. Her country man Kenenisa Bekele, achieved a double gold in 5,000 and 10,000m and with new Olympic record in each. No one has achieved a double in this two events since, Miruts Yifter, (Ethiopian) nicknamed, Yifter the shifter won them. Not even the great Haile Gabrselassie was able to accomplish the feat. In marathon Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (Kenya) took gold, Janaud Gharib (Morocco) took silver and Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) took the bronze.
Africa also did very well in the Men's Olympic football tournament where Nigeria lost by a lone goal to Argentina in the final, thereby taking home the silver. The performance of the three teams representing Africa was highly impressive and really drew a lot of respect for African football today. The three countries of Nigeria, Cameroon and Cote d' Ivoire were amazing in the tournament. The fact that Cameroon and Cote d' Ivoire were knocked out in the quarter-finals did not take anything away from their outstanding performances throughout the tournament. The disappointment was that unlike the men, the women lost virtually all their games and so non qualified for the quarter-finals.
The CAF - MTN Champions League this year was very interesting and I must say that it is good for the advancement of football in Africa, and it helps to create a sense of belonging among smaller clubs. It helps to drive them to a higher goal, and foster a big drive and belief among the smaller clubs that if two small clubs could reach semi final and final, they too can achieve the same if not winning the most coveted rophy in African club football. I am talking about the two clubs that surprised everybody, the Coton Sports of Cameroon and the Dynamos FC of Zimbabwe that reached final and semi final respectively. The Coton Sports played in the final against the defending champion, Al Ahly of Egypt, though the Cameroonians lost 4 - 2 (aggregade), their achievements was appreciated by many fans.
In the semi final, Al Ahly defeated, the two time former champion Enyimba FC of Nigeria by a lone goal, while Coton Sports defeated Dynamos FC by five goals.
In the just concluded AWC (African Women Championship) in Equatorial Guinea, like the Champions League, the tournament produced a string of surprises, starting with the quality of the event. Like every aspect of football in Africa, women football is also developing at a very fast pace. If anyone had told me before the start of the tournament, that South Africa and Equatorial Guinea would be the teams that would play the final and that a tiny nation like the host nation will win it, I will tell the person that he or she was dreaming. Not when Nigeria that has won all five previous editions was there, Cameroon and Ghana that were also strong, present. But I must say like in the champions league that it was a good thing that just happened to women football. Now every other nation have a reason to dream of winning the trophy one day just like Equatorial Guinea. They beat South Africa 2 - 1 while Nigeria beat Cameroon 4 - 3 in the third place match on penalties.
Finally, in the FIFA Women Under - 20 World Cup held in Chile, two countries represented the African continent, which most people will agree was not enough for a big continent as ours. Although, I know that FIFA do their allocations to continents based on the quality of their performances in the world stage, I still think that we deserve at least three representatives instead of two. Every other continent there were represented by three or four countries, such as Europe. Europe also took the lions share in the number of countries that are representing them. Anyway, back to what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. Of the two countries representing Africa - Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo, the Nigerian team did their country proud in particular and Africa in general.
The Falconets as they are called in Nigeria, won two matches and drew one in the preliminary stage of the tournament while the DRC team lost all their matches and conceded ten goals in the process and managed to score only one goal. Nigeria top Group A with seven points ahead of England. They scored eight goals and conceded six in the tournament. In the quarter final they were beaten 3 - 2 by France, but they must hold their heads high because they performed creditably in the entire soccer fiesta.
As mentioned at the beginning of this write up, the continent’s performance this year was mixed with successes and failures but the successes out-shined the failures. The area that I think our athletes performed badly this year was in the area of track and field. It was a great disappointment to say the least, that Africa did not win medals in these areas except in the long distance races. In the new year, the various African governments must try harder to encourage the private sectors to get seriously involved in sponsoring our athletes and provide them with the necessary equipments, financial assistance and well trained coaches, so that they will be able to compete at the highest level against the rest of the world. Africa has the talents but what is lacking is moral and real financial support. While we at the Voice Sports are congratulating our successful athletes, we are also asking all of them to double their efforts and make Africa more proud in 2009. We wish all the African athletes a very successful New Year. Cheers.
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