Chief Coach of the Nigerian Weightlifting Federation, Patrick Bassey is optimistic that his two lifters going to the London Olympics will end the long wait of Olympic medals from the federation.

Technical consultant of Heartland FC of Owerri, Christian Chukwu has advised that for sports to be fully developed in the country, the government should take its hands off from sports, particularly football organization and concentrate on the provision of facilities . In this interview with Sunday Vanguard Sports, the former Super Eagles coach said unless government washes its hands off the control of sports, sports will remain in its poor state. Excerpts:

Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo handed a Champions League debut to youngster Ryan Bertrand in a major selectorial surprise ahead of Saturday’s final with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

West Ham clinched promotion to the Premier League as Ricardo Vaz Te’s late winner sealed a dramatic 2-1 victory over Blackpool in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova will be seeking claycourt revenge on Sunday when she faces French Open champion Li Na of China in the final of the Rome Masters.

Norwich chief executive David McNally has confirmed the Premier League club have rejected a transfer request from leading scorer Grant Holt.

Having shaken off his injury woes to emerge as one of Europe’s deadliest strikers, Robin van Persie’s next challenge is to make an impact at a major international tournament with the Netherlands.

David Cameron and Angela Merkel will take a break from discussing wars and fiscal crises at a G8 summit on Saturday to watch the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea

Nigeria’s flag bearers in the 2012 CAF Champions League, Sunshine Stars of Akure were drawn over the week in Group A of the tournament alongside three north African teams but their coach, Gbenga Ogunbote believes all the teams in the group have equal chances of qualifying. Coach Ogunbote said that the two Tunisian giants (Esperance and Etoile du Sahel) and AS Chlef of Algeria will aid his team to rise to the occasion.