AS Nigerians continue to wait with bathed breath for the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) to call for elections months after it was supposed to have been held, renowned handball and Softball & Baseball administrator, Major-General Ishola Williams has named someone he thinks is best suited to succeed the current President, Engineer Habu Gumel.

Former Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha has declared that Tunisia will be beaten in Maputo by the Black Mambas in the last games of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

NOT so many people were happy when Samson Siasia agreed to tinker the Flying Eagles to the U-20 World Cup in Egypt. After a glorious outing that saw him lose to Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina 2-1 in 2005 in Holland and lost yet again to Argentina in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, everybody agreed that at last, a Samson has finally come to judgement in our indigenous coaches. Nigerian fans hailed him as the next man to take over the job of coaching the Green Eagles.

ABUJA – Besides the over N9.5 billion provided for the hosting of the forthcoming Fifa Under_17 World Cup, the cadet championship is set to gulp another 3.6 million Euros.

The South Africa 2010 World Cup Organizing Committee is celebrating the last minute qualification of Argentina for the event. Chief Executive Officer of the Committee, Dr Danny Jordan said after Argentina beat Uruguay Wednesday to book the last automatic ticket from the South America zone, that the presence of Argentina and Maradona will give the World Cup an added colour.

USA head to Nigeria later this month keeping alive a proud tradition as the only nation to have qualified for all 12 instalments of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. However, current coach Wilmer Cabrera a 48 times capped defender with Colombia is hoping this time his young stars and stripes can make a big splash on the global stage.

Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Sani Ndanusa has made a clarion call on the Eagles not to relent in their quest to secure a 2010 World Cup qualification ticket at the expense of Tunisia.

The nation’s football authorities have been advised to disband the Super Eagles and its technical crew, if the country eventually fails to secure a spot at the World Cup in South Africa.

The IAAF medical and judicial commission is set to come out with a true definition of a female athlete after the gender row involving the South African runner cast a shadow on the women 800m race at the Berlin 2009 World Championships. The race was effortlessly won by the 18-year-old Semenya, but the world of athletics hardly accepted the victory as the IAAF admitted that it has carried out a gender test on Semenya.

THE biggest challenge our sports face is that the sports authorities do not know the enormity of the problems before them. Anyone one of them you ask would proffer that once he gets enough money (whoever gets enough money?) to run sports, all the problems would be over. In summary, poor funding is central to the challenges in sports.