Sports

Former South African rugby star, Hannes Strydom dies in car crash

Published

6 months ago

November 21, 2023

Former South African rugby star, Hannes Strydom has died in an accident at the age of 58, the South African Rugby Union confirmed on Monday, making him the fifth player from their victorious 1995 World Cup team to pass away.

Strydom, who was a pharmacist by training, played 21 Tests for the Springboks between 1993 and 1997, and started the 1995 final where the home side defeated New Zealand 15-12 to take the crown at Ellis Park, a game which had former President Nelson Mandela in attendance.

Former teammate and close friend, Kobus Wiese told local media that though details of the accident were still sketchy, the vehicle Strydom was travelling in collided with a minibus taxi.

“The accident took place on Sunday near the coal mining town of eMalahleni in Mpumalanga province,” Wiese said.

In a tribute on the website of the South African Rugby Union, President Mark Alexander described Strydom as “one of the heroes of our local game”.

His former club, the Lions, also paid tribute to him, describing him as a legend who had formed a formidable lock combination with Wiese.

“We share a tight bond as members of the 1995 group and to lose yet another one of our brothers is a big blow,” Lions Rugby Company chief executive officer, Rudolf Straeuli said.

Strydom made his debut for the Springboks in 1993, and helped defeat arch-rivals New Zealand 15-12 in the 1995 World Cup final in Johannesburg— the biggest sporting event in South Africa after the end of apartheid— before ending his career after playing in the British and Irish Lions series.

Outside rugby, Strydom worked as a pharmacist in the capital, Pretoria, and started pharmacy chain, Pharma Valu after hanging up his boots.

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Sports

Chelsea offers Lukaku plus cash to Napoli for Osimhen

Published

18 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

English Premier League club, Chelsea, is said to be willing to offer Belgium striker, Romelu Lukaku, as well as fork out £77 million to Napoli in a bid to lure Nigerian forward, Victor Osimhen, to the club this summer.

Multiple reports in the Italian sporting media reveal that the Blues are willing to use forgotten man Lukaku and unnamed player to sweeten the deal to bring in Osimhen.

The Belgian striker who is on loan at Roma, is set to depart the Italian capital at the end of the season and make his return to Stamford Bridge where Chelsea are already planning ways to get rid of him on a permanent basis.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport, the latest development in the Lukaku’s saga with the Blues is that Chelsea have gone as far as offering the 30-year-old attacker to Napoli.

“The Blues are aiming to sign Victor Osimhen this coming summer and are aiming to include Lukaku in a deal for the Nigerian international,” Marzio said.

“Newly appointed Napoli sporting director, Manna, is said to be very keen on Lukaku after having tried to bring him to Juventus and Napoli are currently considering the offer with Roma slipping away from the race for Big Rom.”

The 30-year-old Belgian rejoined the Blues in a disastrous £97.5m deal in 2021 and has spent the last two seasons out on loan, firstly at Inter Milan then this time around at Roma.

With two years still remaining on his deal, the Blues will look to get his salary off their wage bill for good this summer.

Osimhen on the other hand, helped Napoli to a historic Serie A title victory last season, scoring 26. This season, he has scored 14 goals in 22 appearances, having missed chunks of the campaign due to a hamstring injury and Afcon.

Lukaku, meanwhile, has netted 11 goals in 29 Serie A appearances for Roma, with 19 in all competitions.

Sports

Nigeria’s 4x400m mixed relay, 4×400 teams qualify for Olympics

Published

2 days ago

May 5, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Team Nigeria on Sunday morning booked two places at the upcoming Paris Olympics Games in the Mixed 4x400m relay and 4X400m men’s events with automatic qualification spots at the ongoing World Relays in the Bahamas.

The mixed 4x400m relay team which had the quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Chidi Okezie, and Esther Elo Joseph, picked the slot after finishing second behind the USA in their heat with a time of 3:13.79, to ensured Nigeria’s presence on the Olympic stage.

Both Nigeria and the US were a distance ahead of other in the heat and it was obvious as at the third leg that the race was between the two countries.

According to reports on the race, Okezie ran an impressive third leg in 44.78 to handover his baton first, but a US Olympics gold-medalist, Kendall Ellis, was too much for Esther Elo Joseph in the anchor leg as she led the United States to the finish line first.