Sports

17, October 2016

Female Africa Cup of Nations: How prepared is the city of Yaounde? ⁰

Yaoundé is an environmental scandal. Several neighbourhoods in the political capital of Cameroon are now littered with garbage. From Olembe, Messassi, Emana, Etoudi, Manguier, Etoa-Meki, Nkozoa, Mokolo, Mvan, Odza and Obili, garbage has overshadowed all the trash bins and rocked all the pavements, piled up on sidewalks and spilled onto the roadway.

Banana skins and pineapples, plastics, leftovers, packaging of all kinds constitute the filth on which dogs defecate in Yaounde, the nation’s capital. The situation has become more intractable as the mentally ill visit the garbage heaps in search of their daily bread. Breeders seeking to feed their pigs have made these places their favourite homes.

At Etoudi some few meters from the presidency of the republic is a heap of animal entrails that give off strong odour and a sea of flies that usually settle on foodstuffs such as bread retailed in a nearby market. Inhabitants of the capital city are constantly being fed stories of a political dispute between HYSACAM, the company responsible for keeping the city clean and the Yaounde City Council.

Whereas, efforts are being made by British Southern Cameroons mayors of Tiko, Limbe and Buea to keep the cities clean for the Female Africa Cup of Nations, those of Douala and Yaounde are persisting with their “bras de fer” with HYSACAM.

Whosoever is going by that name Government Delegate to the Yaounde City Council should be told that visitors will start coming into our country soon as the female Africa Cup of Nations starts on the 19^th of November.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with cables from Sama Ernest

15, October 2016

Samuel Eto’o heading for a 5th African Golden Ball Crown ⁰

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released the list of the last 30 players for the African Golden Ball 2016. The document that was made public today includes two Cameroonians, Benjamin Moukandjo of CF Lorient in France and of course the Great Samuel Eto’o, a player with Turkish club Antalyaspor.

Eto’o has been elected four times African Player of the Year (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010). He is currently heading for a fifth African crown following his strong performance last season where he scored 20 goals in 31 appearances in the Turkish Superlig. Benjamin Moukandjo netted 13 times in Ligue 1 last season, in 31 games. Since the start of the new season, he has scored 4 goals in 8 matches with Lorient.

Algeria, Ivory Coast and Nigeria are the countries represented on the list with three players each. Yaya Toure, with four distinguished titles (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014) did not make the last 30. Glo-CAF Awards will be awarded the January 5, 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.

Here are the nominees:

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Leicester City)

Hillel Soudani El Arabi (Algeria & Dinamo Zagreb)

Islam Slimani (Algeria & Leicester City)

Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon & Antalyaspor)

Benjamin Mounkandjo (Cameroon & Lorient)

Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast & PSG)

Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast & Manchester City)

Yao Kouasi Gervais ‘Gervinho’ (Ivory Coast & Hebei Fortune)

Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma)

Mohamed El Neny (Egypt & Arsenal)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Dortmund)

Andre Ayew (Ghana & West Ham)

Victor Wanyama (Kenya & Tottenham)

William Jebor (Liberia & Wydad Athletic Club)

Medhi Benatia (Morocco & Juventus)

Hakim Ziyech (Morocco & Ajax)

John Obi Mikel (Nigeria & Chelsea)

Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria & Manchester City)

Ahmed Musa (Nigeria & Leicester City)

Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo & Villareal)

Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo & Everton)

Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)

Kalidou koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)

Keegan Dolly (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)

Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs & South Africa)

Mbwana Samatta (Tanzania & Genk)

Aymen Abdennour Tunisia & Valencia)

Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia & Sunderland)

Dennis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)

Khama Billiat (Zimbabwe & Mamelodi Sundowns)

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from CIN

14, October 2016

French cyclist wins Day 2 of the Chantal Biya International Tour ⁰

French cyclist, Roman Martial has won the second lap of the 16th edition of the Chantal Biya International Cycling tour from Yaounde- Ebolowa. The winner covered a distance of 155km.

He was closely followed by another French man, Guglielmi Simon. At the third position was the Cameroonian, Artuce Tella from Team Cameroon.

The two laps still to be covered are;
– Zoe Etele – Meyomesala (143km)
– Sangmelima – Yaounde (148km)

The 16th edition of the Chantal Biya International Cycling Tour will end on the 16^th of October 2016.

CRTV

13, October 2016

Female Africa Cup of Nations: General mood in Cameroon moves from pessimism to optimism ¹

When Cameroon won the bid to host the 2016 women AFCON, there was a general feeling of pessimism about the country’s ability to host the tournament. The fears were entertained by the slow pace of executing of construction work on the sports infrastructure to host the showpiece. However, with the appointment of a new Minister of Sports and Physical Education, things sped up as government minister as well as the Governor of the South West Region multiplied field visits to mount pressure on the contractors. Even when it was clear Cameroon was going to be ready for the competition on time, skeptics still entertained the view the country was not going to be ready and that the hosting right was going to be withdrawn from Cameroon after the CAF inspection mission.

However, the skeptics were silenced when the head of the CAF inspection mission to Cameroon, Leodega Tenga declared at the end of their visit that Cameroon was ready. “Cameroon is ready to host the 2016 AFCON”, he said. “There are good quality hotels. No doubt about the training grounds. The Limbe stadium is one of the best on the continent. The pitches are ready for play even if the tournament was to take place today. We are extremely satisfied with what we saw and I think it is going to be an exceptional tournament in Cameroon”, Leodega Tenga added.

Despite the satisfaction of CAF, the Minister of sports and Physical Education, Bidoung Mkpatt declared that the government and entire citizens of Cameroon were mobilized towards organizing the competition with panache. To match words with action, the minister of Communication declared that though CAF recommends outside broadcasting vans with eight cameras, the country had ordered for two O.B. vans with twenty cameras for the TV production of the tourney. The litmus test on Cameroon’s ability to host the tournament was the draws ceremony on September 18, which Cameroon passed in flying colours as the event was of an unprecedented magnitude as testified by the president of CAF, Issa Hayatou who said it was the first time he was taking part in a draws ceremony in a football competition other than the men’s AFCON.

With about a month to go to the kick off of the competition on November 19, the momentum generated by the draws ceremony continues gathering steam raising great expectations. It is said the draws ceremony was just the tip of the iceberg as compared to what the opening and closing ceremonies of the tourney will be as it has been conferred in the hands of experts from Europe.

Culled from Cameroon Tribune

12, October 2016

Chantal Biya International Cycling Tour gets into action ⁰

The 2016 edition of the Chantal Biya, Cameroon’s first lady international cycling tour has officially gotten into action today. Contrary to the previous year where the race began with a prologue, this time around, day one of the race will be used for the presentation of the participating teams.

There will be a total of four stages with all around the Centre and South regions of the country. Nine teams will be part of the race and they include; 3 Africans (Morocco, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire), 4 European teams (2 from France, Slovakia and Switzerland) and 2 Cameroonian teams (SNH and Team Cameroon).

The different stages of the competition have been earmarked as follows:

Stage 1: Yaoundé-Bafia

Stage 2: Yaoundé-Ebolowa 155km

Stage 3: Zoe Etele-Meyomesala 143km

Stage 4: Sangmelima-Yaounde 148km.

The 2016 edition of the Chantal Biya International Cycling Tour officially starts on Thursday October 13 and finishes on October 16, 2016.

By Cham Victor Bama

12, October 2016

FIFA World Cup 2018: Algeria fires coach after poor display against Cameroon ¹

The Algerian FA has sacked head coach Milovan Rajevac following a draw the Serbian technician recorded against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Sunday the 9^th of October 2016.The Serbian coach is unemployed again, just three months after his appointment as head of the technical staff of the Algeria football national team.

The decision to get rid of Milovan Rajevac was made public by the Algerian Football Federation on its website. The statement did not however provide any reason for the sacking. But local media reports in Algiers say the poor performance of the Algerians in the match against the Lions of Cameroon hosted at the Mustapha Tchaker stadium in the city of Blida for the first day of the final round of qualification for the World Cup Russia 2018 heralded his dismissal.

The Algerian FA announced that Mr. Milovan Rajevac resigned on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 as national coach of the Algeria team. Milovan Rajevac who led the Black Stars of Ghana to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has also prematurely left Algeria with a record of a win and a draw in two matches played.

He is the second coach to have been sacked after Javier Clemente of Libya earlier this week following a (4-0) thrashing by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

By Ebong Kingsley with files from Cameroon Info.net

12, October 2016

2016 Cup of Cameroon: Apejes of Mfou the odd man in!! ⁰

Apejes of Mfou and Bamboutous of Mbouda are the two teams to be battling for the highly contested trophy of the 2016 Cup of Cameroon. Bamboutous of Mbouda over shadowed Coton Sport of Garoua with a 0-1 aggregate and Apejes of Mfou got their qualification ticket after thrashing Sporting of Douala 4-2. For Bamboutous of Mbouda it a fifty year old affair since they were created in 1966.

The Mangwa boys have managed to make strides at the UNIFAC Cup and the CAF Confederation cup in 2015 but have never reached the qualification stage at the Cup of Cameroon. Though both teams are still to complete their unfinished affair at the Division 1 football championship, the contestants have high hopes of caressing the trophy this year. Apejes of Mfou just needed time to start going places after starting off as a Football Academy in 2006. Apejes later upgraded to Division 2 status and after three years became a Division 1 team.

It was a difficult journey for Baboutous of Mbouda as they thrashed Coton Sport of Garoua in 1-0 defeat while Apejes had it in an easy way beating an unpopular Sporting of Douala, 4-2. Bamboutos finished thirteen in the last Division 1 football championship two points behind Apejes on position eleven with 43 points.

Both teams will be fighting for the fame and the money but it is worth noting that Mangwa boys have longevity and boisterous support to their sleeves. Apejes has zeal and new found motivation probably a reason for them to fight hard when the time comes.

CRTV

11, October 2016

International Cycling: Grand Prix Chantal Biya begins tomorrow ⁰

The 2016 edition of the international cycling race, Grand Prix Chantal Biya will kick off tomorrow with the first lap expected to be run between Yaounde and Bafia. The last preparatory meeting towards the organization of the race took place on October 6^th and was presided by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education representing the minister.

It came out from that meeting that all was now set towards the effective take off of the race. Ten teams from Europe and Africa will be taking part in the race. The bulk of the foreign delegation will arrive in the country today including the referee of the race, Belgian born Jean Pierre Coppenole. The race will comprise four laps; Yaounde-Bafia, Yaounde Ebolowa, Zoetele –Meyomessala and Sangmelima-Yaounde. The kick-off of the race will be at the place de l’Independence, whereas the arrival will be at the 20^th May Boulevard.

Cameroon Tribune

11, October 2016

Bamenda: Agho Oliver is new Secretary General of North West FECAFOOT ⁰

The Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, North West chapter now has a new regional secretary general appointed by a decision signed by Tombi A Roko, head of Cameroon Football. Tombi A Roko Sidiki who was also elected in a controversial process last year, decreed that Agho Oliver, 33 should replace Kaba Christopher, now president of North West region FECAFOOT.

Immediately after the decision was made public on Monday October the 3rd 2016, Agho Oliver reacted by thanking the almighty God for his appointment and promised to work towards the development of football in the North West region. He marked his commitment to his new office to match assiduity, diligence and fraternity.

Getting more young men and women actively involved in football is among the priorities of the Kaba Christopher-Agho Oliver team. The appointment came barely a month and ten days away from the 2016 female African Cup of Nations to be hosted by Cameroon. The country has equally been favoured to host the 2019 AFCON.

By Cham Victor Bama (Cameroon Concord News Group)

9, October 2016

Russia 2018: Cameroon 1, Algeria 1 ⁰

The third and final round of qualification for the next World Cup sees 20 teams divided into five groups of four. Group winners go through to Russia. Everyone else stays home. It is an unforgiving set-up, and Cameroon has started by paying a heavy price for having sunk to 59th in the FIFA World Rankings used to seed qualified teams for the draw.

The Indomitable Lions have recorded a one all draw with Algeria- the best team in Africa says Cameroon head coach Hugo Broos. Nigeria collected the three points from Zambia with goals from Nigeria’s Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho … Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi. The qualifying stage will run until November 2017.

By Chi Prudence Asong