Neymar will be seeking redemption in Champions League

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, and Neymar da Silva from Brazil, right, gesture during their match against CF Malaga in a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Malaga and Barcelona in Malaga, Spain, Saturday April 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Daniel Tejedor)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — One month after leading the most improbable of comebacks, Neymar earned himself the scorn of Barcelona's fans with a pair of senseless bookings.

He'll get a chance to redeem himself on Tuesday when his team faces Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

Neymar picked up a pair of unnecessary yellow cards on Saturday and got sent off with 25 minutes left and his team trailing by a goal at Malaga. Without him, the undermanned side lost 2-0 and squandered an opportunity to close in on Spanish league leader Real Madrid, which was held to 1-1 by Atletico Madrid.

Neymar's infractions bordered on the absurd. Or tragicomic.

The Brazilian got his first yellow card for bending over to tie his boot laces and not giving space for a Malaga player to cleanly take a free kick. Then, knowing he was one false step from leaving his team with 10 men, Neymar charged into a Malaga player with no real chance to win back the ball.

Explosion hits Borussia Dortmund team bus ahead of Champions League tie, Marc Bartra hospitalised

German authorities have confirmed reports of three explosions involving the Borussia Dortmund team bus

Nigeria Olympic Fund to open two training centres early 2017 – Onyali

Mary Onyali, the Executive Director of Nigeria Olympic Fund, on Wednesday said the body plans to open two training centres for kids early next year.
Onyali told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the two centres would be located in Kwara and Kogi States.
Onyali said: “Our focus next year is to set up at least two training centres in the first quarter and kick start operations immediately.
“The centre in Kogi will be named after the late athlete, Sunday Bada; we will accommodate and train kids in these centres for future Olympic events.”
She said weightlifting would be the target sport for the Kwara State centre and would be named after veteran weightlifter, Ruth Ogbeifo.

Wheelchair Tennis national ranking tourney serves off

The 2016 National Wheelchair Ranking Tournament will serve off Thursday in at the National Stadium, Lagos with no fewer than 40 players participating.
Nigeria’s wheelchair tennis head coach, Frank Tarmena, disclosed that the players that have already registered will represent about 20 states.
Tarmena expressed optimism that more players will register for the tournament before it gets underway.
“Registration so far has been average because we are expecting a large number of participants due to the importance of the tournament. Some few more states have notify us that they are on their way to Lagos and because of this we have decided not to extend registration till Thursday morning after which we will commence the draws,” he stated.
Tarmena, who is an ITF Instructor on wheelchair tennis, stated that the players enthusiastic about the tournament as they hope to get a better ranking which will automatically earned them places into the main