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Meselech conquers Janmeda

The 23rd annual "MOHA" Soft Drinks Jan Meda cross-country brought together more than 579 individual competitors while the number of participants at club level declined. The participation of school children and representatives of sub cities showed a record high while the participation of popular athletes showed a record low. "The Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) needs to come up with better plans in the future," remarked critics at Jan Meda.

Spain cross-country double champion Meselech Melkamu took the lime light winning the 8 km race in style. Meselech cautiously followed Mestawet Tufa until the final lap where she produced an astonishing kick to take the gold medal in 20:33 minutes. Mestewet came second in 21: 22 minutes, followed by Ahaza Kiros. "I was worried about Mestewat's fast pace until the time I decided to over take her," said the winner.

Meselech Melkamu, who for long has been in the shadows of Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba, could be on her way to stardom as she is the hot favorite to win the upcoming cross country meetings in Kenya .

The occasion's highly expected 12 km showdown fulfiled expectations with Defense Forces sweeping the medal table. In a strong come back following a long absence, Ali Abdosh dominated the race from the very start to finish at ease. Ali clocked 36:20 minutes to take the gold followed by club mates Tilahun Menashu and Deriba Mergia in 36:23 and 36:23 respectively. "Even though I felt pain in my heel and almost decided to walk out from the race, the crowd's support made me win the race," Ali Abdosh told reporters after the victory.

Konjit Tilahun of Ethiopian Banks won the 6 km youth competition in a time of 20:33:40 followed by Emebet Eta and Aselefesh Mergia both from Defence Force. The 8km men's gold medal went to the most promising athlete Chala Lemi of Ethiopia Banks. Chala clocked 23:46 to win the gold medal comfortably.

Though, the 23rd MOHA Soft Drinks cross country brought some promising athletes to the podium, the declining number of participating clubs at 2nd division from 32 last year to 28 and the participants in 1st division from 260 last year to 200 this year, is reason for worry.

Meanwhile, the growing number of individual athletes from this year and the increasing number of students in the race seems to be a good sign to those who are advocating the sport should be taken up at grass root level.

Worku takes over Olympic soccer team
Negussie Gebre appointed as assistant coach

Sources at the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) disclosed that former Ethiopian national senior team Coach Worku Dergeba has been appointed as the national Olympic soccer team's head coach. Seyoum Abate, who had been a stopgap coach for both the senior and Olympic national teams, was told to pack home out of the blue.

According to the Amharic sports paper 'Athena', the federation decided to appoint a new head coach for the national Olympic side since Seyoum Abate is now engaged with club football.

It is believed that the nation's soccer governing body (EFF) wants a full time national head coach with no other jobs to worry about. Following that decision, Worku Dergeba who had been assistant coach to Seyoum Abate will have his international debut as coach against Algeria .

With over two decades coaching experience under his belt, Worku was once considered a very promising coach, but never lived up to expectations. Insurance, Ethiopia Banks, Harar Brewery and Air Force FC, had been a few of his failed stops in the premier league. Though he steered Ari Force to the permier league, he surprised many of his admirers by resigning at the end of last season.

Negussie Gebre, former assitant coach of the Olympic squad, was sacked from his spot to be replaced by former team mate Tesfaye Fetene, who at the moment is coaching Mugher Cement. Worku Dergeba and Tesfaye Fetene are expected to build a strong Olympic team that will face Algeria in the preliminary two-leg match. The winner would go into the sixteen-group stages.

Yosef, Tesfahun join Harar Brewery

Former Trans Ethiopia FC head coach Tsegaye Kidanmariam's appointment to Harar Brewery has become a haven for seasoned players to give it one last shot before hanging their boots. Since Tsegaye took over the hot seat for the new season, three seasoned players have joined the brewery.

The first player to follow Tsegaye to Harar is former Ethiopian Coffee and Awassa Kenema attacking midfielder Yosef Tesfaye. Yosef, who played significant roles in helping Awasa Kenema to its first premier league title and Ethiopian knock-out championship in two successive seasons, has signed a year's contract. The one time joint top scorer of the Ethiopian premier league with Asseged Tesfaye, Yosef's experience as a striker and playmaker is expected to benefit the side enormously.

A week after Yosef's signing, former Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopian Coffee striker Tesfahun Gadisa, other wise known as 'Cole', joined Brewery for a one year contact. As a youngster Tesfahun had been one of the most promising talents in the country with his dribbling skills and an eye for goal. Many big clubs were keen on him until he joined Coffee. His move to Coffee wasn't a walk in the park as he even failed to secure a regular place.

He then moved to Yemen where he tried to kick start his career. Though we don't know why he left Yemen after such a short time, his decision to join Harar could be seen as his final move.

"Whatever the case, ‘Cole's' decision to play for Harar will benefit the side more the than it benefits the player," said his former clubmate at Ethiopian Coffee.

Having these two seasoned players in his squad, head coach Tsegaye expected to build a side at least strong enough not to loose on its own turf. As Harar Brewery is the only representative from eastern Ethiopia , it needs a strong supporting hand from the enterprise as well as club supporters so that it stays at the upper echelon of Ethiopian soccer.

Tsegaye is left with the task of building a team that is strong enough to compete in the top flight and at least secure a mid table position.

Sport comentary

Banks is too big for Girma!

These days, financialy strong clubs are surprising me by hiring low profile coaches. What is more surprising is that those premier league clubs who appoint such young and inexperienced coaches, pressure them to achieve the impossible. Though in most cases in Ethiopia it is difficult to say who is better than whom when it comes to coaching, sometimes the hiring goes so out of hand that any layman might ask why he can't coach a team.

Case in point is Ethiopia Banks current head coach Girma Tsegaye. The former Ethiopia Banks player has been with the club's coaching staff for a long time and was never a candidate to take over as coach. Many who knew Girma as a player say that he lacks personality both in and out of the field, while some say his disciplinary record as a player had never been impressive. Others claim his rise in the ranks is more because of his neutrality than his ability to make decisive decisions. "Many people like Girma for he is a harmless guy and easy to be friends with," said a former friend who claims to know him since his early days.

With all this in mind, one may ask; why then was Girma appointed as coach despite displaying not even a single character customary of a head coach. If one was to ask if Girma was a nice person, the response would be yes. But it doesn't take a nice person to coach a team at such a high level. A coach needs leadership qualities, ability to make decisions, tactical expertise and a voice loud and strong enough to rise above every squad member. I do not think Girma has those qualities that would enable him to coach a side so big, which has dreams of dominating the premier league.

When Electric thrashed Banks 6-2 last Sunday, Girma brought in an extra defender and I failed to understand how a coach could bring in a defender when his team is failing. The shoe is too big to fit Girma I reckon. As a matter of fact, Banks have been known for hiring a string of unsucessful coaches even though they could afford the best here in Ethiopia .

Ashenafi had stayed with Ethiopia Banks too long to do any good for the club. Though an insider, his experience as king maker was finally exposed and he left his position as coach only to join the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF)'s technical committee. Becasue he is loyal, he was appointed as coach of the Ethiopian women's national team. I don't ever see Ashenafi returning to Banks. Though he helped the club win the knock-out title, Seyoum Abate could not stay there for more than a few months. Seyoum in my opinion is a bonafide troublemaker that I myself witnessed while he served as coach of many clubs. I am still surprised how Banks managed to hire him in the first place.

Gebremedin Haile's appointment later on was considered as the best ever move by the club. Many expected the former national team striker to fulfill his dream of becoming a premier league champion, which he almost did with Trans Ethiopia. To the dismay of everyone, Gebremedhin at Banks excelled at being the best ever coach at producing lame excuses. He was always complaining about something when his team lost. If he could not have something to throw on players, he simply would come up with some other excuse out of the blue. He once said the reason Ethiopia lost to Namibia was because the playing ball was too heavy to kick around. After two such seasons and signing hundreds of thousands birr worth of players, Ethiopia Banks were strong enough to let him go. He then rejoined his former team Trans Ethiopia.

I would suggest that Banks go all out for a foreign coach with decent experience with African clubs like Electric and St George have done. I believe that this is the only way for Banks to become a competitive team. In my opinion, Ethiopia Banks FC is too big a club for Girma to carry.

Sport hearder

The young, inexperienced and cocky Manchester United winger has proved to be a little more than just a step over expert. Christiano Ronaldo spent two unfruitful seasons at Manchester before he proved that he is a talent to be reckoned with.

This year, Ronaldo has been the most consistent performer under Alex Ferguson along side striker Luis Saha. The Portuguese winger has been scoring ample goals and has terrorised every defense there is to terrorise in the premier league.

He has improved his passing skills and most of all, has curbed his bad boy character to become more of a team player. He scored two goals as Manchester trumped Aston Villa 3-0 in the Permier League on Boxing Day.

Coffee takes premier league top spot

After thrashing Mugher Cement 4-0 in midweek, last season's Ethiopian premier league runners up Ethiopian Coffee took the lead on 23 points. Back from a 3-2 away victory over Methara Sugar, Kifle Boltena's squad tormented Mugher here in the capital to muscle out archrivals Saint George from a three day luxury on top of the table.

After hammering Nyala FC 6-2 on the weekend defending champion Saint George traveled to Mekele on Wednesday only to share points with Trans Ethiopia. With five foreign players in the starting line up, St Geroge were a team that could have taken on any team in Africa . With giant Nigerian striker Oche Chenar spear heading the strike force, Nyala resembeled a shy boy with nowhere to hide. Chenar scored two minutes into the game and hit another one after just six minutes. Chenar left the field after being injured before half time. However, Binyam Assefa came off the bench to replace the Nigerian and scored the third before the end of the first half. The one way traffic continued in the second half as Binyam, Andualem and Habtamu each scored to score half a dozen goals. Nyala managed to narrow the result by scoring twice.

Wondemagne Kebede's second match as Nyala coach turned out to be a nightmare as his players were no contest for the seasoned St George players. The visit to Trans however wasn't a walk in the park as the reigning champions were held to a 1-1 draw. Former Saint George striker Helawi Yosef scored for the home side while Andualem leveled the score line.

Awasa Kenema, slipped down to third place following two consecutive draws.

The week's surprise victory went to Electric who dictated the whole game to crush Ethiopia Banks 3-0.

With new faces in the line up, Electric coach Ken Morten seemed to find the best formula as his team seems to be holding its own with home based players. Ethiopian Coffee lead the table on 23 points, followed by Saint George on 20 and Awasa Kenema third with 19 points.

Kenenisa eyeing World best Athlete crown

Olympic 5000 meter gold medalist and five time double world cross country champion Kenenisa Bekele announced that his main agenda in the new athletics season is to snatch back the athlete of the season crown.

According to Addis Zemen newspaper, Kenenisa is determined to set new world records in the long and middle distance. "I want the crown back for the third time and I am ready to crush records in abundance," Kenenisa was quoted as saying.

After a two month break, Kenenisa is ready to take part in the road race to be held in Edinburgh in two weeks time. Kenenisa will also be in the 12 km cross country athletics meeting and he is determined to set a new record in his opening race. "I am back in training and I am in good shape to win titles. I am also ready to break records so that I can regain by crown as athlete of the season," Kenenisa told Addis Zemen.

Asked which one of his losses last season he regreted the most, Kenenisa said, "I am sad about the world athletics meeting in Athens , Greece where I represented Africa in the 3000 meters and lost the title to Australian Craig Motram," he added.

The loss to Kenyan Issac Kiprono at last season's golden league meeting's opening 5,000 meter in Oslo is also what still disappoints the Olympic champion. Kenenisa added that the documentary film based on his life is almost finished and will premier soon.

In the meantime, Kenenisa's younger brother Tariku disclosed he is ready for the big races this season. Popular more for his pacemaker's role to his elder brother, Tariku's recent time performance shows that he is actually ready to fly solo. Tariku, who won the cross country races in Madrid and Bilbao , was quoted as saying that his big brother's pace would help him to new heights. "I am working hard and my brother is supporting me at every level," Tariku, remarked.

Ethiopia 's legendary marathon runner blazed a trail for African athletes

Before Abebe Bikila, there were no runners in Africa or at least no runners that the world knew about. After Abebe won the Olympic Marathon races in Rome in 1960, we Africans all started thinking: "Look he is one of us. If he can do it, we can do the same."

Let me explain it a different way. Before the Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane, no humans could fly, and most people did not believe such a thing was possible, yet now we are sending rockets to Mars and who knows where next. In Africa , before Bikila there were no successful runners and most of us did not believe there ever would be. Now there are thousands of us, winning races all over the world, setting new standards and breaking records.

In one of my offices, there is a poster that shows all the great champions Ethiopia has produced. Abebe is there right in the center. He is an icon for the whole of Africa , and a personal hero of mine. If it were not for him, I would still be a farmer in the hills of Arsi.

But because of Abebe Bikila I am trying to win an Olympic Marathon, just like him. (Haile Gebreselassie wrote for Time magazine, November 13, 2006)

Terry has surgery on back injury

Chelsea and England captain John Terry has undergone successful surgery to cure his troublesome back injury. But Blues officials have yet to reveal how long they expect the 26-year-old centre-half to be out of action.

"The operation to remove a sequestrated lumbar intervertebral disc was successful," said a Chelsea statement.

Chelsea have conceded six goals in three league matches without Terry and have fallen four points behind Premiership leaders Manchester United. The early indications are that Terry could return within weeks not months.

But having sold both William Gallas and Robert Huth, manager Jose Mourinho has admitted the continued absence of Terry has left him short of defensive options.

The Blues have already conceded 15 league goals so far this season - only seven fewer than they did over the whole of the last Premiership campaign.

Terry's injury could also hit England , who are due to play Spain at Old Trafford on 7 February. Billionaire owner Roman Abramovich expects Chelsea 's spending in the transfer market to be reduced once the benefits are reaped from its academy.

European governing body Uefa may make football more competitive by curbing investment by rich benefactors. Team owner has spent millions since taking over at Chelsea in 2003.

But he told The Observer: "Our strategy is to bring up our own players through the academy, which we have invested a lot in, and hope it gives results." (BBC)