Zambia play in South Korea, Ghana in China and Ivory Coast in Russia today as African countries prepare for next year’s Cup of Nations qualifiers next month.
Defending champions Zambia took six of the Cup-winning team — goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene, defender Davies Nkausu, midfielders Chisamba Lungu, Isaac Chansa and skipper Christopher Katongo, and striker Emmanuel Mayuka — to Seoul.
CAF Champions League commitments deprive the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) of defenders Stoppila Sunzu and Hichani Himonde and midfielder Rainford Kalaba from Democratic Republic of the Congo club TP Mazembe.
Another Mazembe star, midfielder Nathan Sinkala, is recovering from a facial nerve infection and defender Joseph Musonda, forced to quit the Cup of Nations final against Ivory Coast after 12 minutes, remains sidelined.
Showers greeted the visiting squad when they arrived in the South Korean capital and they brought relief from the humid conditions in a city that has fond memories for Zambian football boss Kalusha Bwalya.
He scored a hat-trick in a stunning 4-0 triumph over Italy during the 1988 Olympic Games, an achievement which went a long way toward him being chosen African Footballer of the Year a few months later.
A much weaker Zambian team defeated Zimbabwe 2-1 at home on Wednesday last week as they prepare for a two-leg qualifier against Uganda with the winners advancing to the finals in South Africa in January and February next year.
Ghana welcome back United Arab Emirates-based striker Asamoah Gyan from a self-imposed break with the national team, but coach Kwesi Appiah lacks several other stars, including brothers Andre and Jordan Ayew of Olympique de Marseille.
The French Ligue 1 outfit say the friendly is not on a FIFA-sanctioned date for African countries and injuries rule out Daniel Opare of Standard Liege and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu of Udinese.
Leading Ghana scorer Gyan walked out, having been severely criticized by sections of the public and media after his penalty was saved in a shock Cup of Nations semi-finals defeat by Zambia.
Ivory Coast, penalty-shootout losers to Zambia in the Libreville final after star striker and captain Didier Drogba blazed a regular-time spot-kick over, have named a star-studded 24-man squad for Moscow.
Recently appointed French coach Sabri Lamouchi included brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure from English Premier League champions Manchester City, plus Shanghai-based veteran Drogba and Gervinho of Arsenal.
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi picked an all-local squad for a clash with West African neighbors Niger in Niamey, where they had to cut short a mid-afternoon training session because of searing heat.
Forced to release four players from Sunshine Stars for CAF Champions League duty in Algeria this weekend, the Super Eagles defeated clubs representing the Nigerian police-and-prison services in warm-ups.
Angola have scrapped admission charges to ensure a capacity crowd in Benguela for a match against fellow Portuguese-speaking nation Mozambique, which marks the debut of Uruguayan Gustavo Ferrin as Palancas Negros (Black Antelopes) coach.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier