Sports

Two Moroccan cyclists kidnapped in Burkina Faso released after six weeks

Published

12 months ago

May 15, 2023

Two Moroccan cyclists who were kidnapped in Burkina Faso by gunmen on April 1 have been released after spending more than six weeks in captivity.

The Moroccan Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a statement on Monday, said the two cyclists who were on a cross-country tour, were abducted at the Niger-Burkina Faso border in the strife-torn West African country which has been battling with insurgents.

The Ministry said the release of the cyclists was achieved as a result of cooperation between Moroccan security services and their Nigerien counterparts.

“The cooperation allowed the detection of the two Moroccans’ location and their release. The two citizens are safe and sound. The citizens are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure their health status, prior to their repatriation to Morocco,” the Ministry said.

The case of the two cyclists had raised serious oncerns among Moroccans and had pitched the two countries on a diplomatic row, which led to the Burkinese government pledging to do everything possible to secure the release of the captives.

The Moroccan Touring Bike Association, Souss Massa, had, in a statement in April, mandated the country to go the whole mile to free the cyclists.

“We ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Expatriates to send a research note to Burkina Faso.”

The Moroccan Embassy in Ouagadougou had also promised that it was mobilizing all of its resources and working in coordination with relevant authorities to solve the case of two Moroccan cyclists.

Click to comment

Sports

Chelsea offers Lukaku plus cash to Napoli for Osimhen

Published

1 hour 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

1 day 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.