Posted by By Udede Jim on
Soon, the duo of Ugor Opara and goalie Abdul Isa of Enyimba International will be lacing their boots for Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt after both players put pen to paper at the completion of joint transfers that totaled up to N4million.
Soon, the duo of Ugor Opara and goalie Abdul Isa of Enyimba International will be lacing their boots for Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt after both players put pen to paper at the completion of joint transfers that totaled up to N4million.
Ugor Opara, former skipper of the Peoples' Elephant cost the management of Sharks the sum of N2.5million, while Abdul Isa, the club's reserve goalie attracted N1.5million .
In the same vein, Coach Shuaibu Amodu also secured the services of Sunday Johnson for Lobi Stars of Makurdi to strengthen the Rivers side.
Pain, regrets for three Es:
Within the period of the transfer window for the movement of players, some coaches also moved. Some in pain and regrets while others took new challenges.
Most prominent of these movements were the sacking of Coach David Egbiri from the technical crew of Gateway FC for poor results, while Coach Alfred Ekundina resigned his job at Iwuanyanwu Nationale for circumstances he called deceptive.
Godfrey Esu, who held so much promise at the start of the season for 3SC, was given the boot by the management of the Ibadan side and replaced by erstwhile Gabros tactician, Kafaru Alabi.
Meanwhile, Niyi Akande has already taken over the tinkering job at Gateway FC and will be assisted by Friday Christopher. Ekundina's successor is Stanley Aguma, ex-Gabros coach and one-time assistant to Coach Okey Emordi at Enyimba International.
Tennis shake-up breed new stars:
Every one seemed to have accepted the fact that world tennis would continue to be Roger Federer against the rest since Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Morat Safin and others like Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gaston Gaudio and Tommy Haas etc have seemingly fizzled out in the heat of the sun, that is whenever the moments that matter crop up.
In that gale, Federer has re-written the tennis books and, as at now, the only Grand Slam title he has not won is the French Open, which is played on clay.
The Swiss intimidating record would have been more awesome and unsurmountable if he had won the Monte Carlo Masters, which was concluded on Sunday in Monaco. He had won the Indian Wells Open and the Nasdaq-100 Open, the year's first two ATP Masters in a row. If he had taken Monte Carlo, he would have been the first player in history to take the year's first three ATP Masters titles.
However, thanks to 18-year old Richard Gasquet of France who blew Federer away in the quarters: 6-7(7-1), 6-2, 7-6(10-8). He was later defeated by his age-mate, Rafael Nadal of Spain, who went on to win the tourney by crushing the defending champion, Argentine Guillermo Coria: 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.
That victory on clay court gave the young left-handed Spaniard his first Masters title and also made the 18-year old the first teenager in more than a decade to win at Monte Carlo.
Earlier in the month, Rafael Nadal had blown a two-set lead against Roger Federer during the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open to lose at 2-3, sending strong signals of a rising star in the tennis firmament.
We await the French Open and who will become the Master at Roland Garros after Gaston Gaudio, or will he retain it? Gaudio lost to Nadal at the quarters of Monte Carlo. All the top players and pundits are, however, warned that Roger Federer wants to win the French Open as he has also declared that "my loss in a three-setter to Gasquet at Monte Carlo will not affect my game at Roland Garros".