Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben taking return from injury one day at a time

Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben says he will not rush his return from injury.
The 32-year-old Netherlands international suffered a preseason groin injury and has has not yet featured for the German giants this season, despite resuming training recently.
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid star told Bayern TV: “You can train for yourself as much as you want, but now the part where I join the squad comes again.

Willet leads star cast at St. Andrews

A star-studded line-up of Major Championship winners, including current Masters champion, Danny Willett, and members of the 2016 European Ryder Cup team, will be playing in next month’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.
England’s Willett, who won his first Major in dramatic fashion at Augusta earlier this year, will be flying straight from the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine in a bid to win his first Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Joining him will be Ryder Cup team-mates in Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello, Germany’s Martin Kaymer, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, and England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood and Chris Wood, plus captain Darren Clarke.

Alberto Contador targets hat-trick in Tour de France

Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will join US team Trek-Segafredo next year from current side Tinkoff as he targets a hat-trick in cycling’s most prestigious race, the US team said yesterday.
“I am thrilled about the opportunity that is in front of me. Trek-Segafredo is a very attractive and ambitious project that really inspires me,” the Spaniard said in a statement released by Trek-Segafredo on Thursday announcing the signing.
“I had some excellent conversations with the team management and we have a lot of goals and priorities in common. The big objective is to try and win the most important races on the calendar – first and foremost the Tour de France.”
A Trek-Segafredo spokesman said Contador – once banned for doping – had a contract from January 2017 until the end of 2018.

Enyimba tie tough, but winnable – MFM’s Newman

It doesn’t come tougher than Enyimba when you are battling to escape relegation, but it is a task we can surmount, MFM’s star striker, Newman Musa, has said.
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club of Lagos will meet Enyimba in a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 36 tie at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Newman told mountaintopfc.com that he forsees a difficult game against the seven-time champions, but he believes the Olukoya Boys will claim their share of the maximum points at stake after 90 minutes on Sunday.
“We have a huge task against Enyimba this Sunday… it is a game we must win but it is not going

Flo-Jo impact lessen respect for female sprinters – Thompson

New sprint superstar, Elaine Thompson, who copped the sprint double in her first Olympics, is happy making her mark on the global stage with her own fast times and competing with her unique style, but admits that she’s not paying too much attention to the women’s 100m world record at this time.
Thompson, who has personal bests of 10.70, which is also a Jamaican national record, and 21.66 over 200 metres, swept the 100m gold from training partner and former champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, while outclassing Dutch athlete Dafne Schippers for the 200m gold in Rio.
Thompson believes the women’s world record of 10.49 seconds, set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988, remains unattainable and has influenced how people view female athletes.
“That record is really far from me right now, so I think that also contributes to the reasons why we don’t get that much respect because we don’t run a lot of world records or fast times,” Thompson

Remembering disabled medallists who preceded Paralympics

Though the earliest forerunner of the Paralympics was inaugurated in 1948, it wasn’t an open competition for another 12 years. The Stoke Mandeville Games, as it was then called, was initially intended to aid the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and, as such, was contested only by former military personnel. In 1960, shadowing that year’s Summer Olympics, the ninth edition of the competition was held in Rome. This was the first such event to be opened to civilian contestants and, accordingly, is considered to be the first official Paralympic Games.
That said, the term ‘Paralympic’ didn’t come into use until the 1988 Games in Seoul. It’s early forerunners were only open to athletes with spinal cord injuries, and competitors with other disabilities only began to participate as late as 1976. The development of the modern Paralympics has been long and arduous at times, and there is still a long way to go before it has full parity with the Olympics. Before it was even an embryonic idea, however, there were disabled athletes

Cilly Aussem, German champion that came before Kerber

After winning her first two Grand Slam titles at this year’s Australian and US Opens, might Angelique Kerber make Wimbledon her major target in 2017? The new world No.1, who replaced Serena Williams at the top of the rankings this week following her triumph in New York, was beaten by the American in this year’s Ladies’ Singles final at The Championships, where she has regularly proved her grass-court prowess, having also reached the semi-finals in 2012 and the quarter-finals in 2014.
If Kerber were to win the title at the All England Club, she would become just the third German woman to do so. Steffi Graf lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish seven times (in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996), but the only other German Ladies champion was Cilly Aussem, who beat her fellow countrywoman, Hilde Krahwinkel, 6-2, 7-5 in the final in 1931. It is the only Ladies’ Singles final at The Championships to be contested by two players from the same country other than those finals featuring Britons, Americans or Australians.

Man City’s Iheanacho to buy closest pal £2m mansion

Generous Manchester City ace Kelechi Iheanacho will celebrate his new bumper contract, which now pays him 85,000 pounds a week, by buying his closest friend a £ two million mansion in a choice neighbourhood of Manchester.
Nineteen-year-old Iheanacho, who earned between 10,000 and 18,000 pounds a week before his new deal at The Etihad, is now in the big time and now wishes to splash on Kingsley Ogbodo, who has helped him to settle down in Manchester.
Ogbodo from Enugu State was himself a footballer and even tried his luck in Hungary before he came down to England “to hustle”.
He first hooked up with Chidiebere Nwakali, who is also on the books of City but currently on loan at Norwegian club IK Start, after a chance meeting at a Manchester night club.
And it was Nwakali who introduced him to Iheanacho, and ever since Nwakali left Manchester to first start out on loan in Spain, Iheanacho and Ogbodo have been inseparable.
“They are like twins, they are everywhere together and often wearing the same designer clothes and accessories,” revealed a top source.
“He is Kelechi’s trusted travel companion, he accompanied him back to Nigeria on holidays at the end of last season. He was also by his side for the recent international duty against Tanzania in Uyo.
“Ogbodo is Kelechi’s righthand man, his closest confidant, after he dedicated the last few years to make sure the football star is very much at home in Manchester.
“He is street-smart, a man about town and totally committed to Kelechi.”
It is that dedication that Iheanacho now wishes to repay with the gift of a mansion in Greater Manchester.

Diego Costa motivated to prove critics wrong – Mikel

John Obi Mikel believes Chelsea team-mate Diego Costa’s scintillating early-season form can be put down to a desire to prove his critics wrong following a disappointing 2015-16 campaign.
Costa is the current joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League ahead of the Blues’ match with Liverpool on Friday after scoring four goals in as many league matches under Antonio Conte.
The Spain international is already just eight goals behind his league tally in what proved to be a difficult campaign for the striker last season.
And Mikel reckons Costa is out to silence any doubters he picked up during his struggles by proving his class under Conte this term.
“I definitely think he can get even better,” Mikel said. “He can score more goals, he can help the

Fans want Iheanacho to lead Super Eagles attack

Nigeria rise, Algeria, Cameroun falter in latest FIFA ranking
Super Eagles’ fans, including two of the team’s assistant coaches, have asked the national team Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, to hand the top striker’s role to Kelechi Iheanacho, ahead of Brown Ideye and Odion Ighalo when the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers resume next month.
According to the report, the fans on various interactive forums want Rohr to use the 19-year-old in the top striking role, same role he plays at Manchester City.
The website said it forwarded some of the suggestions to a close associate of the German coach, who confirmed that talks have been held in that regard and it is a possibility as the search for a cure to the Super Eagles goal scoring problem appears to be near.
“I can’t categorically say it will happen but I can confirm to you that talks have been held and the

Murray to miss Grandfather’s funeral to play Davis Cup

Andy Murray will miss his grandfather’s funeral on Friday to play in holders Great Britain’s Davis Cup semi-final opener against Argentina in Glasgow.
Gordon Murray, the father of Andy and Jamie Murray’s father Willie, died last week. Andy missed Thursday’s press conference, reportedly so he could attend a family gathering, but Jamie was present.
Jamie Murray will only play in the doubles rubber on Saturday and will be able to go to the funeral.
At the time Olympic final opponents Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro will resume hostilities in Friday’s opening semi-final singles match.
The duo fought out an intense men’s Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro last month, with Murray eventually prevailing after more than four hours to claim a second successive gold medal.

Joey Barton sent home from Rangers training after dispute

Joey Barton’s Rangers future appears in doubt after the midfielder was banished from the club’s training ground following an internal dispute.
Barton reportedly was sent home on Tuesday following an altercation with teammate Andy Halliday and told to stay away for the rest of the week.
The 34-year-old was absent from training on Thursday and is set to sit out Saturday’s Premiership contest with Ross County at Ibrox.
The incident occurred days after Rangers suffered a 5-1 derby defeat by Celtic, which left them four points adrift of the champions, who have a game in hand.

Minister can’t declare state of emergency in sports—Ka’Oje

A former Minister of Sports, Bala Ka’Oje, has said that the incumbent Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has no right to declare `state of emergency’ in the sector.
Ka’Oje spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday following a recent comment by Dalung that he would declare a state of emergency in the sports sector.
NAN reports that Team Nigeria’s poor outing at the Rio 2016 Olympics had necessitated the minister’s comment after the country won only football bronze at the Games as against the five medal he promised.
Ka’Oje said that the minister declaring state of emergency in sports meant that he had enough money to pump into the sector and turn it around without necessarily involving President Muhammadu Buhari.

Manchester United beaten by Feyenoord in Europa League opener

Manchester United made a laboured start to their Europa League campaign as they were beaten 1-0 by Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
Tonny Vilhena scored the decisive goal for the Eredivisie side in the 79th minute as Nicolai Jorgensen’s cut-back cross found the 21-year-old midfielder free in the box to slot home.
Jose Mourinho made eight changes to the side that lost against Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend, introducing Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial into the XI and naming Chris Smalling as captain on his first start of the season.
But the wholesale changes had a detrimental effect and United struggled for tempo and to create any clear cut chances of note in a first half that saw them frustrated by Giovanni van

Leicester can get even better after dream start in Europe – Ranieri

Leicester may have defied the odds once more on their Champions League debut, but manager Claudio Ranieri reckons even more is to come.
City’s surprise Premier League title success landed them a spot in Europe’s premier club competition and, despite a mixed start to their domestic defence, they were outstanding on night one of the Champions League.
A brace from Riyad Mahrez after Marc Albrighton’s opener allowed them to win 3-0 at Club Brugge and give a nod towards another unexpected run of success.
But, according to Ranieri, his side are capable of even more.
“I said a clean sheet was important. We scored twice [in the first half] and it was important to keep going and be attentive so we don’t make any mistakes,” said the Italian.
“We scored three goals but I don’t think it was a perfect performance. We can improve a lot.”