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Despite being known as a football-loving nation on the world stage, the republic of Peru, a Spanish-speaking country on the South American continent since the 1820s, has won the Olympian glory thanks to its international shooters, who have picked up a total of three medals in the Summer Games between 1948 and 1992. According to these results, unequivocally, the greatest Peruvian athlete is Edwin Vasquez Cam, an Olympic gold medalist.

Edwin Vasquez Cam

Edwin Vasquez Cam was born on July 28 1922, in Lima, Peru’s capital city. Encouraged by his father, who was a former shooter, he competed in several shooting competitions in Lima and other Peruvian cities. Over the next years, he spent several hours with his father, Mr. Gonzalo Vasquez, his coach and best friend. By 1938, Edwin won a school championship, but that was only the beginning.

When Edwin was only 18 years old, he finished first in the Gildelmeister Cup, a traditional event in Lima, defeating many veteran athletes. Since then, Edwin’s ambition was to become one of top shooters on Peruvian soil. The following year, he was crowned as the «best shooter» in a major contest. By latter the mid-1940s, Edwin won a gold at the Bolivarian Games at home after winning the Continental tournaments.

With limited international experience, by 1948, Edwin Vasquez and his fellow athletes made a travel to compete in the Olympics in the United Kingdom. The South American delegation competed in seven sports: athletics, men’s basketball, boxing, cycling, fencing, shooting, and weightlifting. In the British capital, on the other hand, nine shooters participated for Peru: Edwin, Cesar Injoque, Raul Valderrama, Wenceslao Salgado, Luis Mantilla, Froilan Tantalean, Enrique Mendizabal, and brothers Enrique and Guillermo Baldwin.

Peru’s champ Edwin Vasquez Cam became the first non-American/European shooter to win an Olympic title when he captured a gold in the Games of the XIV Olympiad in London, UK’s capital. In that day, on August 2, 1948, surprisingly Sweden’s marksman Torsten Ullman was beaten by Mr. Vasquez Cam. Ullman, gold medalist at the 1936 Olympics and four-time world champ (1933, 1935, 1937, & 1947), had been the favorite to win the gold in the free pistol in the Olympic Shooting Championship, a sporting event traditionally dominated by the United States and Western Europe since its inclusion in the First Games in 1896.

Edwin won with 545 points, followed by Switzerland’s Rudolph Schnyder (silver medal) and Ullman (bronze), both with 539 points. It was a day of national pride not only to Peru but also to the continent. Upon Vasquez’s win, the country became one of the first five Latin American republics to win an Olympic gold medal in the 20th Century, alongside Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico. But within few years he was forgotten despite his status like an Olympian winner.

Peru did not win any other Olympic medal until 1984 when Edwin Vasquez’s successor, Francisco -known as «Pancho»- Boza surprisingly was runner-up at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Prior to the international Games, he had been trained by Konrad Wirnhier, an Olympic gold medalist in 1972, in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Pan American Champion

Mr. Vasquez, upon winning the global title in Britain, helped his nation’s Olympic team to win a gold medal at the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires (Argentina), a world-class competition in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to these awards, he also earned many international contests.

Despite being one of the most high-profile athletes in Latin American and the Caribbean at that time, unfortunately, Mr. Vasquez and other members of the Peruvian squad, among them Julia Sanchez Deze (Pan American gold medalist in 1951), could not go to Helsinki (Finland) to participate in the Olympiad in 1952. For absurd reasons, Peru’s then-dictator Manuel Odria refused to send a national delegation to Scandinavia.

An Unknown Olympic Champion

Historically, Peru’s Olympic champ Edwin Vasquez is the only shooter from Latin America to have won an Olympic gold medal. In the last sixty years, the continent sent some notable shooters to the international Games, but none of them captured the Olympic glory. From 1972 to 1984, Helmut Bellingrodt -Colombia’s most outstanding athlete in 1974– won two silvers. In the meantime, Mexico’s Olegario Vasquez, upon winning a gold medal in the 1975 Pan American Games and set a new world record, failed to earn the Olympic competition at the 1976 Montreal Games. By 1988, Chile’s Alfonso de Iruarrizaga finished second in the Olympiad in Asia. At the 25th Olympiad in 1992, Peru’s athlete Juan Giha, whose coach Bruno Sarti did not go to Spain due to a lack of resources, came in second place.

Despite being the greatest Peruvian Olympian in history of this country’s sports, Edwin Vasquez Cam, unfortunately, is still a sporting figure unknown for millions of Peruvians. On March 9, 1993, unfortunately, he passed away. Ironically, his death was largely unnoticed by the national media. In a country that has not had an Olympic champ since 1948 and never world winners, he should be an important model for Peru’s boys and girls, paving the way for a new generation of champions.

Perpetua Nkwocha remains one of the best female footballers to come out of the shores of Nigeria. At 36 years of age, this amazing lady has continued to break new records and set the female football scene on fire with a mesmerizing performance.

Presently plying her trade with Sunnanå SK in Sweden, she has remained a key member of the Super Falcons of Nigeria having represented the country at five African women championship- from 2002 to 2010. She was also a member of the super falcon’s squad that featured at the 2003 FIFA Women World cup help in USA as well as the 2007 FIFA Women World Cup held in China. A veteran female footballer who has scored more than twenty goals in her illustrious career spanning more than 10 years, she has remained a shinning example to up and coming stars who look up to her for great inspiration.

One of the features that have given her the cutting edge to be ranked among the best female footballers in Africa is her amazing pace. She can out-run opposing defenders at will, like she did in the recently concluded African Women Championship held in South Africa. In the final match against defending Champions Equatorial Guinea, she received a beautiful pass from Ulunma Jerome in the 7th minutes of the first half and out-paced her marker to net the very first goal in the keenly contested encounter.

She also possesses precise accuracy in front of goal. Prior to the match between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, the Nzalang Nacional’s Brazilian-born goalkeeper Mirian had kept attackers of opposing teams at bay. The queen of goals- Perpetua Nkwocha had other ideas, as she wasted no time in registering her presence with a well taken shot just outside the 18 yard box. It was so precise that the goalkeeper did not know what hit her.

A complete striker can score goals with both feet and head and it was not different in the case of Perpetua Nkwocha as she scored a record eleven goals from her head and both feet. Her aerial ability is second to none, as it is impossible to tell what ammunition she intends to fire at goal.

Lastly she was able to combine experience and maturity and helping the Super Falcons subdue all opponents at the recently concluded African Women Championship held in South Africa. Ever willing to fall back and help at midfield and defense, she gained tremendous recognition on and off the field of play as one of the best performers in the tournament, as her goal rate tallied 2.2 goals per match, a feat that will take quite some time to be shattered.

Barca meet Arsenal at the Emirates and spread buyers of the Gunners’ win index will be looking for revenge after the Catalans knocked the Gunners out of the competition last year. Those spread enthusiasts looking to sell the Barca/Arsenal match supremacy may be aware that before last weekend the visitor’s had not conceded a goal in five matches – scoring 17 times. There will be concern for match supremacy sellers that the Gunners have never beaten their Spanish opposition in five meetings – producing three defeats and two draws.

Those looking to sell the visitor’s win index spread may have noted that Barca have not enjoyed as much European success on the road as they have done at the Nou Camp. When Barca beat Panathinaikos in the final group game, it was their first in six away outings and that will please sellers of the club’s win index.

Those football spread betting punters that enjoy a punt on the total goals market may have seen that Barcelona have scored ten times against Arsenal in their five meetings. The highest scoring game was in North London when the visitors ran out 4-2 winners in 1999, to the delight of goal buyers that evening. The Gunners’ performance in the group stages will also offer encouragement to goal buyers given they scored 14 times in their three home fixtures.

Total goal minute spread betting punters should take note that the last time these sides met at the Emirates, all four goals in the draw arrived in the second half – reaching 259 points.

Leo Messi scored four times in the most recent clash with Arsenal and that will delight those looking for a bet on his individual performance spread. His goal minutes for that particular game accumulated 188 points on the spread. The Argentine has six goals in six European matches this year.

Tottenham travel to the San Siro once more where they face AC Milan and buyers of Spurs’ win index on the spreads will take encouragement that the opposition won only one of their three home group games.

In the group stage matches the games involving Massimiliano Allegri’s side averaged 2.3 goals and the highest scoring game was a 2-2 draw at home to Real Madrid. Sellers of the bookings spread may have seen that Spurs have only been handed four yellow cards in their three European away games. However, buyers will argue that Heurelho Gomes was dismissed in Tottenham’s last trip to Milan – the overall points for that game totaling 65 points.

Foosball is a very entertaining indoor game. In fact, it ranks up high with billiards and chess, when it comes to the most popular and most played sport in the whole world. But how did foosball really start? Where did it originate and who conceived this popular table sport?

Foosball, which was originally referred to as table soccer is believed to have originated in the land of Germany in the late 1920’s. However, it was also discovered that the French were concocting the exact same game sometime in the early 1930’s. Foosball started as a soccer game played in an old wooden box.

The first commercial foosball table was released approximately thirty-five years ago, through the company called EBSCO Amusements. EBSCO Amusements introduced foosball in America by importing two German tables. But a few years later they began making their own line of patented tables and they called it the Vulcan Fussball Table. Several other foosball table manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon. The list includes Irving Kaye Sales Corporation, which released their table in 1969.

The game caught on with many followers and enthusiasts. And as the game started to get popular, competitions were being held left and right. In the United States, the first-ever professional foosball competition took place in 1979, with as much as $250,000 at stake. The event was called the World Championships, which also marked the debut of the foremost professional foosball league. The European and German leagues held competitions as early as the 1950’s. However, there isn’t a body established for the pros during those times.

Right now, foosball is a hit not only in the West but in the rest of the world as well. Good players are now emerging from countries like North Africa, the Middle East, South America, Tahiti, and Australia. Argentina and Japan are slowly inching their way towards winning the World Cup as well.

In the United States alone, there is an estimated 1.9 million players enjoying the game. The evolution of the game from a regular indoor game into a professional sport with millions in cash prizes at stake has contributed to its rise in popularity.

And the rest is history. If you love the sport of foosball, understanding its history will make it even more enjoyable.

The hosting right for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World was awarded to Nigeria by the football governing body, FIFA in 2007 at her extra ordinary congress held in Korea. The competition will be the third FIFA organized competition to be hosted by Nigeria after the successful hosting of the FIFA U-20 Championship in 1999. The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria will be defending the title they won at Korea on home soil, but the preparation of the cadet World cup was dealt a serious blow, when the Nigeria Football Federation sacked Coach Henry Nwosu, who was then in charge of the team, and announced the appointment of Coach John Obuh and Monday Odigie as Assistant.

The team suffered further blow, when a bulk of the players were dropped due to results of the Magnetic resonance Imaging test (MRI) test carried out on the team. The set back did not however deter Coach John Obuh, who was still able to put together a bunch of talented footballers from football academies scattered over Nigeria. The competition was played in eight designated cities: Enugu, Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Calabar Ijebu-Ode, Kano and Bauchi.

The competition which was held from on the 24th of October 2009 through November 15th 2009 saw the Golden Eaglets starting the defence of their trophy with a dramatic 3-3 draw with Germany, after the Germans had gone 3-0 up. In their second group match, the young Eaglets inflicted a 1-0 defeat on a hapless Honduras side. The round of 16 tickets was secured in their final group match against Argentina with a convincing 2-1 defeat of the South Americans.

More drama was to unfold in the round of 16, where the Golden Eaglet were paired with the inexperienced New Zea-land. The match ended in a 5-0 bashing of the New Zea-land. The Golden Eaglet were not done yet, as they defeated the hard fighting boys from South Korea 3-1 in the Quarter finals, to set up a semi-final clash with the enterprising Spaniards who were spoiling for a revenge of the 3-0 defeat inflicted on them in 2007. The match was settled in regulation time with a Stanley Okoro dazzling goal and super sub Emmanuel Sanni brace to give the Golden Eaglet a convincing 3-1 victory. The Golden Eaglets were just a step away from making history as the only country to host and win the U-17 trophy as defending champion.

In the Final played at the magnificent Abuja national stadium, Nigeria failed to utilize the numerous opportunities that came her way in an entertaining encounter with Switzerland. They were to pay for their many misses, when Swiss striker Heris Seferovic scored the only goal of the match via a free header in the 63rd minute of the epic encounter.