Sports

Cameroon’s 76ers centre, Joel Embiid wins 2023 NBA MVP award

Published

12 months ago

May 3, 2023

Cameroonian-born Philadelphia 76ers center and NBA scoring champion, Joel Embiid, has won his first-ever NBA Most Valuable Player trophy, making him only the second winner from Africa after Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon won the gong while playing for Houston Rockets in 1994.

The The 29-year-old Yaoundé-born Embiid who picked up the prized trophy on Tuesday night, had averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and a career high 4.2 assists per game to win his second straight scoring title ahead of two-time winner, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, and Nigerian-Greek star, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was third.

Embiid received 73 first-place votes while Jokic received 15 first-place votes, and Antetokounmpo got 12.

Speaking after picking up the gong, Embiid said:

“It’s been a long time coming. A lot of hard work. I’ve been through a lot. I’m not just talking about basketball. I’m talking about my life. My story. Where I come from. How I got here and what it took for me to be here.”

Embiid is also the first 76er to win the league MVP since Allen Iverson in 2001, Julius Erving in 1981, Moses Malone in 1983, and Wilt Chamberlain from 1966-1968 who picked up NBA MVP awards.

Embiid’s win also makes it the fifth consecutive year an international player has been MVP, extending the longest streak in NBA history.

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Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

2 days ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.

Sports

Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.