Manchester United loanee Odion Ighalo has been offered a two-year contract extension worth more than £400,000 per week by his parent club Shanghai Shenhua. The Chinese club want to reward the Nigerian striker for his good form at United, where has scored four goals in his first three starts. The 30-year-old’s loan in England expires on May 31 but it is likely to be extended until June 30 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Former Olympic and world 100m champion Justin Gatlin says he can win gold at the Tokyo Olympics despite him likely being 39 when the postponed Games take place. The Olympics, due to begin in July, were postponed this week because of the coronavirus pandemic. American Gatlin, 38, won gold at Athens 2004 and the world title in London in 2017 after a second doping ban.
The 22nd edition of the Africa Senior Athletics championships has been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of Africa’s best track and field athletes were scheduled to converge in Algiers, Algeria, between 24 and 28 June this year for the championships. But a statement shared by the host Algeria Athletics Federation (FAA) on their website stated, “Following the magnitude of the pandemic and the containment and awareness measures decided by the public authorities, the two sports authorities decided to postpone these championships to the summer of 2021.”
Olympic swimming champion Chad le Clos has urged fellow South Africans to “stay at home” and “stay active” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Le Clos, 27, who won 200m butterfly gold at London 2012, says he is “in the shape of his life” and believed he was on target to add to his tally of four Olympic medals overall at the Tokyo Games, which have been postponed to 2021.
The gambling sector in East Africa is in a “total mess” following the collapse of global sport in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a Ugandan betting company has said. Betting markets have dramatically shrunk in light of the suspension of the world’s leading football leagues, which has left little for people to gamble on. But in east Africa, the market has been particularly hard-hit because few in the region bet online.
The four Bundesliga clubs in this season’s Champions League have pledged 20m euros to support fellow German teams during the coronavirus. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen will forego their share of the national media revenue and donate the remainder from their own funds. The German Football League (DFL) will decide how the money will be distributed.
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