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Green Hawks Ready to Soar as Nigeria Begins Historic World Cup Quest in Nairobi

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Nigeria’s national netball team, the Green Hawks, is set for a historic challenge at the 2026 Africa Regional Qualifiers, with Nigeria Netball Federation President Dr. Oluwatoyin Aluko expressing confidence in the team’s preparations and ability to compete for a place at the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney.

The Nigerian contingent is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi on September 18, a day before the competition begins, following preparations that have included training in London and valuable international exposure.

Read Also: Lawal Muiz Steps Up Personal Training, Targets Big NNL Season With Smart City FC | Sports247 Nigeria

Nigeria has been drawn in Pool 2 alongside Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and hosts Kenya, while Pool 1 comprises South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania.

The Green Hawks will open their campaign against Kenya at 7 pm on September 19, before facing Uganda at 6 pm the following day. Nigeria then meets Malawi at 4 pm on September 21 and Zambia at 2 pm on September 22.

Head coach Alison Akinrinsola believes the experience gained from preparations, including international matches against Jamaica, Pakistan and Scotland, has helped strengthen the squad ahead of the Nairobi challenge. Nigeria’s London-based preparations and the appointment of Akinrinsola have formed part of the wider effort to build a competitive national side.

“We have seen where we are, we know the areas we need to improve, and we are working hard to get better,” Akinrinsola said.

“We are not going there just to participate. We are going there to compete and fight for Nigeria.”

Aluko, meanwhile, believes the emergence of the Green Hawks represents a significant step in the Federation’s determination to return Nigerian netball to the international stage.

The NNF president has consistently stressed that international success must be supported by strong structures, with capacity building, improved coaching and officiating forming major pillars of the Federation’s development programme.

For Aluko, the Nairobi campaign provides an opportunity for that rebuilding project to announce itself beyond Nigeria.

“Our ambition is to make Nigeria competitive internationally, and this team represents an important part of that journey. We believe in the players and technical crew, and we want them to go to Nairobi and make Nigeria proud,” Aluko said.

The competition will be played in a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each pool progressing to the semi-finals.

With World Cup qualification at stake, Nigeria knows there will be little room for error.

But with Aluko driving the Federation’s rebuilding programme and Akinrinsola preparing the players for the challenge on court, the message from the Green Hawks camp is unmistakable:

Nigeria is heading to Nairobi to compete, make history and keep the dream of Sydney 2027 alive.

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EuroMatch NPFL: Kano Pillars, Sporting Lagos Share Points in Kano

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Kano Pillars and Sporting Lagos played out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining EuroMatch Nigeria Premier Football League Matchday 7 encounter in Kano, with both sides settling for a point after a closely contested battle.

Sports247 reports that the result means the Mai Su Gida have now followed up their previous goalless draw against Enyimba with another stalemate, while Sporting Lagos also recorded their second consecutive draw after being held to a barren 0-0 draw by Ikorodu City in the Lagos Derby.

Kano Pillars started the encounter with the intention of making home advantage count, but Sporting Lagos remained organised and disciplined as both teams searched for an opening.

The breakthrough finally arrived deep into first-half stoppage time when Valentine Ugwu put Sporting Lagos ahead in the 45+2nd minute, giving the visitors a valuable lead heading into the interval.

Kano Pillars responded strongly after the restart and quickly found a way back into the contest.

The hosts were rewarded in the 48th minute when Abdullahi Musa drew Kano Pillars level, finishing off a move created by veteran midfielder Rabiu Ali, whose assist once again underlined his influence in the Pillars midfield.

With the score level at 1-1, both sides pushed for a decisive second goal, but neither could find the breakthrough during the remainder of the encounter.

Kano Pillars will take encouragement from their ability to recover from going behind, while Sporting Lagos will also be satisfied with securing a point away from home after surrendering their lead.

For the Mai Su Gida, the draw represents another opportunity gained but also another two points dropped from a winning position, as they continue their campaign in search of consistency.

Sporting Lagos, meanwhile, remain unbeaten across their recent fixtures but will be looking to convert their promising performances into maximum points as the season progresses.

The 1-1 result leaves both teams with plenty to build on, particularly in attack, as they prepare for their next assignments in the EuroMatch NPFL.

With the league campaign continuing to gather momentum, Kano Pillars and Sporting Lagos will now turn their attention to their upcoming fixtures, hoping to turn future draws into victories.

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Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

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A federal judge ruled this week that a Tulsa, Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy violated a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights when using Flock Safety to search for her license plate without a warrant. 

As reported by 404 Media, this ruling does not create a binding precedent, but it is one of the first times that a federal judge has ruled that a Flock search is unconstitutional.

In this case, Judge Sara Hill said the deputy should have obtained a warrant before searching the Flock database for the woman’s license plate, as he had “no apparent reason” for the search “other than the fact that [the woman’s vehicle] had a California license plate.”

The deputy then used the woman’s travel history in Flock as part of the justification for searching her car, where he allegedly discovered 91 pounds of meth. But Judge Hill wrote that all evidence obtained after the Flock search “must be suppressed as the fruit of a poisonous tree.”

Judge Hill also took broader aim at warrantless searches of the Flock database, writing that tracking people’s location — even when they’re in public places — becomes “constitutionally problematic when law enforcement can indiscriminately and passively catalog your whereabouts over an extended period of time and then use that information for any purpose whenever convenient.”

“This is a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance,” Hill wrote. “It is not targeted on a single individual, as in [Carpenter v. United States, a Supreme Court case focused on how government agencies access location data from cell phones]. It is a tool that collects information about all vehicles that pass by any network-connected camera at all times, and it serves up the information to law enforcement on demand.”

Hill joins a growing chorus of Flock critics from across the political spectrum. Numerous local and state governments, including Florida and Texas, have said they will stop using the technology. And on Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders — a Democrat from Vermont — introduced the Block Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers such as Flock.

Flock CEO Garretty Langley — who we’ll be interviewing on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt — has called for a “compromise” between privacy and safety and offered an apology to women who have been stalked by law enforcement officers using the Flock system. And with all those cancellations, Flock has also reportedly offered voluntary employee buyouts as a way to shrink its workforce.

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