Tuesday January25, 2005

Tirunesh, Meseret clash in Boston ahead of Birmingham

World 5000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba will clash head to head with compatriot Meseret Defar at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games Saturday, ahead of their Norwich Union Grand Prix on February 18, in Birmingham.

The two athletes will compete in the indoor 3000m for the first time since both met at the 2004 Athens Olympic 5000m where Meseret ran fastest to win gold.

Tirunesh, 19, who triumphed at the Great North Cross Country last weekend, believes the victory came at a right time.

 “Winning at the weekend in Edinburgh has given me a real boost,” said Tirunesh to the IAAF website. 

The organizers of next Saturday’s event in Boston have promised that any athlete that sets a world record on the track will receive $25,000 bonus while an American record will be good for an extra $10,000. Since the inaugural event in 1996, the meet has played host to three World Records, nine American Records and six other National Records.

Several of those record-holders return for the 2005 event, including American indoor record-holder Tim Broe at 3000m going up against the World Record-holder at 5000 (indoors and out) and 10,000m, Kenenisa Bekele. Kenenisa, who recently resumed training, will be running his first race since losing his fiancée Alem Techale tragically earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Tirunesh, who paid the price in last summer’s Olympic 5000m final of trying to stay with the suicidal pace of World record holder Elvan Abeylegesse but held on for the bronze medal, will face a strong challenge from Meseret, who won the Olympic final, in Birmingham.

But the confident Tirunesh said, “I ran a personal best in Birmingham last year and the quality of the field again this year means that a fast time is possible.” Her time of 8:33.56 for second place was in fact the fastest ever indoor 3000m clocking by a junior woman.

Meseret, 21, was also Tirunesh’s conqueror in last year’s Birmingham 3000m beating her with 8:33.44, and went on to be crowned World Indoor 3000m champion in Budapest, an event which Tirunesh did not take part.

Saints to construct own stadium soon 

A grand project to take the 69-year-old Saint George sport club to immortality unfurled last weekend at the club’s general assembly held at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center behind Meskel Square.

One of Ethiopia’s leading investors and chairman of the club’s Board of Directors, Abnet Gebremeskel unveiled the dream project of the veteran club that will be carried out very soon.

In front of the club’s supporters, Abnet disclosed the dream project, which is the construction of a 35,000 capacity stadium around the CMC area, as well as the design that was made in South Africa, to the joy of everyone around.

The announcement brought applause from everyone in the hall that lasted for about two minutes before Abnet could continue divulging the rest of the dream project. The club’s board of directors has already leased a 24,000 square meter plot in the Oromia Region to build a youth football academy.

According to Abnet, the lease payment of 2.6 million birr is to be paid in a time span of 40 years and the first payment has already been settled. The announcement instigated donations from the supporters of which the biggest came from Sunshine Construction in the amount of 150,000 birr for the leveling of the land.

Abnet, arguably the man of the club’s 69 years history, said that the stadium will be completed in three years time together with shops and other facilities for entertainment and it will be named after the club’s all-time benefactor and business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Al-Amoudi.

Following Abnet’s traditional dance (Iskista) from the stage, the annual financial report was read by the auditor which showed that the club earned 4.4 million birr in the previous fiscal year of which 3.8 million birr was expended and the remaining 540,000 birr carried over to the current season.

Meanwhile, the news coming from the US is that Ethiopia’s renowned internationally acclaimed soul music queen Aster Awake has promised to organize two concerts to raise fund for the club’s dream project.

EFF receive FIFA dev’t grant at last

The Ethiopian Football Federation [EFF] received the annual FIFA development fund of US$250,000 to back the efforts of the Normalization Committee led by the former federation president Dr. Asheber Woldegiorgis.

Since the dispute between the Youth, Sports and Culture Deputy Minister Melaku Petros and Dr. Asheber boiled over, FIFA withdrew its assistance financially to the EFF until the situation was resolved. With the ending of the feud comes double blessing, as the EFF not only received its development fund for 2004, but also for the preceding year.

According to the bi-weekly sports newspaper Libro, the EFF has already received the first US$250,000 which has been deposited in the federation’s new account opened by the Normalization Committee after it assumed office. Libro also disclosed that FIFA was the initiator for the opening of the new account.

The goal project, which had been suspended for more than two years, is also said to start rolling to build the FIFA-financed youth football academy in Western Shoa province of Ambo.

Though the world football governing body has made Ethiopia the center for the football academy that should host the East Africa countries, the conflict in the federation hindered the progress of the academy until recently when Dr. Asheber fully took office as the chairman of the Normalization Committee.

Nine Africans in FIFA’s team for tsunami victims

Reigning African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o Fils, and eight other African footballers have been named in the world squad for the benefit match to raise funds for victims of the December 26, tsunami disaster.

The nine Africans are part of more than 50 of the world’s biggest stars named by FIFA to take part in the “Football for Hope” match at Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium on February 15, at 21.00 GMT.

The African players for the World XI led by 2004 World Footballer of the Year Ronaldinho include: Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, who plays for Chelsea in England, Obafemi Martins of Nigeria, the pair of Ghana’s Ossei Kuffour, who plies his trade with Bayern Munich, and Olympique Lyon’s Michael Essien. The team also has two South Africans, Lucas Radebe of Leeds United and Delron Buckley, who plays for Arminia Bielefeld in Germany. Cameroon’s Idriss Kameni, who plays for Espanyol in Spain, is one of two goalkeepers in the squad while Tunisian international Radhi Jaidi was included for his impressive performance for his English club Bolton Wanderers.

Organized by FIFA and UEFA in consultation with the Spanish football association, and with support from FC Barcelona who are providing their stadium and staff free of charge, this benefit match see an XI led by Ronaldinho, and coached by Brazil’s World Cup winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and Barcelona’s Frank Rijkaard, play a team captained by Andriy Shevchenko, the European Footballer of the Year 2004.

The European team will be coached by Italy’s national team coach Marcello Lippi and Arsène Wenger of Arsenal. Tickets for the match will go on sale shortly and ticketing details will be confirmed as soon as possible.

All of the proceeds of the “Football for Hope” match will be donated to the FIFA/AFC Tsunami Solidarity Fund, which has been set up jointly by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). UEFA has also pledged donations to this fund.

World football’s solidarity efforts are still underway in South, Southeast Asia and the parts of Africa that were affected by the tsunami.

Coffee suffer second home loss, as Awasa’s unbeaten run ends

Ethiopian Coffee suffered their second defeat on their new home ground at the Abebe Bikila Stadium on Thursday, January 20, as champions Awasa Kenema’s unbeaten run came to an end.

Coffee were beaten 1-0 by Harar Brewery at home, a defeat that shocked the club’s die-hard supporters, who believe the present crop of players in the squad are the best in the country.

Former Coffee coach Mekuria Aseber, who now coaches the brewers, showed his tenancy pushing their hosts back on their own field and their pressure paid off in the second half with a headed goal that stunned everyone. Though Coffee pushed forward for an equalizer, their efforts were unsatisfactory.

In their first games after the premier league six weeks interruption due to the 2004 CECAFA Championship that was hosted by Ethiopia, Coffee were held to a 0-0 draw at the Abebe Bikila stadium by Defense Force in the much-awaited clash. Coffee made amends, though, with a 1-0 win over Adama Kenema away in their second game.

With the loss Coffee drop to second with 16 points from eight matches, with Awasa Kenema slipping to third also on 16 points after their 2-1 defeat by Mugher Cement, who now leads the table on goal difference, in Addis Ababa.

Saint George’s clash with Ethiopia Banks on Wednesday in Addis ended in a goalless draw. Back from their 2-1 victory over Harar Brewery, the midweek conquerors of Coffee, the Saints were expected to win the encounter but played without conviction and had to settle for the point.

The premier league newcomer Methara Sugar crushed Adama Kenema 4-0 at home that sent their supporters into wild jubilation to make amends for the 2-0 away defeat to Defense Force at the weekend. Electric under Italian coach Giovanni Pettreli collected their second victory in the new season with a hard-fought 1-0 victory away against Arbaminch Textile 1-0 in midweek.

The Mekele derby between Guna Trading and Trans Ethiopia ended in a six-goal thriller. As the Mekele stadium is currently under renovation, the match was played at Adigrat, the new venue for Tigray clubs. The 3-3 draw is referred as one of the best clashes between the two city rivals. Trans slipped to seventh with 13 points.

Wonji Sugar made it six points from two home matches that take them fifth on 14 points, a good start for the club. Defeating Electric 1-0 last weekend, Wonji followed that victory with a 2-1 win against Trans Ethiopia.

In today’s matches, at the Abebe Bikila stadium Coffee entertain the defending knockout champions Ethiopian Banks, while in the Addis Ababa stadium the new leaders Mugher Cement take on Saint George for the seasons first round show down.

National U-17 in ‘do or die’ clash today in Accra

The national U-17 team will today in Accra take on the Starlets of Ghana in the second leg second round qualifying match for the Africa U-17 Championship to be held next month in the Gambia.

The national team, which hold a slender 2-1 first leg home victory a fortnight ago, jetted out for the west African country last Tuesday evening with a strong feeling of at least an away draw despite facing one of the continent’s best youth side away. The Starlets in the first round defeated Tunisia both home and away 5-2 on aggregate and will be looking to hand Ethiopia their first defeat in the campaign.

Ghana hold an away goal advantage and need to win by a single goal without conceding any to make it to Gambia. It is to be recalled that the Ghana coach David Danson promised to humiliate the Ethiopian team in the second leg in Accra.

Currently with Medin, Wondemagne Kebede, the man in charge of youth team, his first national assignment, however told reporters that they are optimistic they will book their place in the eight nations African Youth Championship in the Gambia.

“Though we started preparation late, we surprised ourselves by winning the first leg at home and now we are ready to battle the second leg, despite playing it in front of the passionate Ghanaian spectators,” declared Wondemagne before he and his 20 squad members boarded the plane to Accra.

Wondemagne, who has been praised for selecting boys close to the age limit, told the weekly Saint George sport news that though their efforts to have a friendly match with premier league or national league clubs failed, they had to make the trip to Accra without match fitness, however the advice from his professional colleagues the likes of Sewnet Bishaw, Seyoum Abate on technical and tactical matters of the team will help him much in the decisive return leg encounter today.

Many, however, have voiced that it is too much expense for the EFF to have two assistant coaches, Tesfaye Gebru and Abera, including the EFF Technical Head Ato Wegne, team leader and former international referee and now Normalization Committee member Ato Shiferaw Eshetu, as the team’s delegation to Accra, while the players deserved more.

“Sending people who are not really concerned with the business at the expense of the players is a deep-rooted tradition in the EFF. Why three coaches and a newly appointed technical authority for the trip?” asked a worried fan.

In other developments, Asrat Haile, who twice resigned as head coach after helping the national team triumph, is said to be on his way back to take hot seat for the international match against Angola, the reigning South African zonal champions.

The office of the East and Central Africa zone [CECAFA] faxed the date of the match with little information. Though it is not yet confirmed, a plan to organize an eight nations (winners and runner up of the continents four zonal championships) tournament in a knockout format is yet to be announced.

If the plan goes accordingly, the knockout champion and runner up will take part in the championship, the continents biggest zonal tournament sponsored by South Africa’s Castle Lager Brewery, which takes place in South Africa.