Clayton Goodwin has been following the progress of some of the sportsmen/women and entertainers we have featured in these columns over the past two years, and the story is very encouraging indeed. Here is what he found.

New African takes pride in being usually among the first with the news, but sometimes even we are surprised by the speed at which some of our predictions have been realised.

Our May 1998 story on the London Nigerian Rugby Football Club showed "why they will go places". Just three months after our story, the club created something of a sensation by winning the Paul Bechet Cup in an international tournament held in The Hague in Holland.

What made the victory particularly sweet was that the organisers had worried beforehand whether such a new and comparatively unknown side would provide credible opposition.

The Nigerians shook their hosts by beating Holland's national side in the first round of the competition, and, then, defeated the Haagsche Rugby Club, the Dutch champions, in the final.

When we phoned the administrators in The Hague a few days ago, they were still talking about their visitors' exciting and entertaining style of play. No wonder that the London Nigerian RFC has recently moved 'home' to the Linford Christie Stadium in West London at which they can operate at a higher-profile.

Let J.J. Amaworo-Wilson, one of the successful team, take up the story. After admitting that the team had had their teething problems, he added: "But all is going well on the pitch, which is where it counts. The Dutch internationals who left the pitch with heads bowed certainly wouldn't argue with that - having been scuppered 22-14 points [two of the tries coming from former Bristol and England under-21 player David Essien]".

Francis Emeruwa, the experienced player/coach, cited the reason for the success as: "We stick together on and off the pitch. Because the people here are such good friends, there is a spirit in the club that takes us through the tough times".

Rugby Union football could be the new wind of change to blow through Africa as the world approaches its new millenium. This autumn the Rugby World Cup will be contested in Britain with matches in France, Wales, England and Scotland leading up to the final in Cardiff on 6 November.

South Africa, the defending champions, are joined by Namibia in the final stages, and there are almost certain to be a number of African heritage players in the teams of the European nations.

Soccer is not forgotten, however, as the Youth World Championships are held in Nigeria in April, and the Women's World Cup in the summer hosted by USA - Ghana and Nigeria are Africa's two qualifiers.

There is another World Cup hosted by Britain before that. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya all compete in the cricket championship which culminate in the final at Lord's Cricket Grounds in London on 20 June. Here, too, the South Africans are the advance favourites.

Our feature in the December 1997 issue proclaimed "Africans are on the march in international cricket" and even Conrad Hunte, the former West Indies opening batsman and vice-captain who told us that it would take black, Asian and Coloured cricketers in South Africa some 11 years to pull out of the restrictions which apartheid had imposed on their development, has been pleasantly surprised by the rapid progress.

South Africa's crushing triumph over the West Indies, the former masters, included fielding of the highest class, of which nothing was more spectacular than Herschelle Gibbs' two catches in Durban. Conrad is impressed by the progress of batsman Ashwell Prince, who, though yet to make an international appearance, is a name to watch.

The younger nations, too, have come forward in leaps and bounds. Zimbabwe, considered hitherto to be the Test Match minnows because of their lack of an extended domestic structure, and our opinion that "black players have made an impact to suggest that they will be a force in the future", was realised rapidly when the young fast bowler Mpumelelo Mbangwa spearheaded a historic away victory over Pakistan. Henry Olonga is already an established member of the side.

Kenya, shock winners over West Indies in the last World Cup competition, continue to make history as Kennedy Otieno and Deepak Chudasama put on 225 runs for the first-wicket against Bangladesh in Nairobi, an international record for limited-overs cricket.

A year ago, triple-jumper Ashia Hansen (featured in our November 1997 issue) broke the world record but sustained an injury that kept her out of much of the rest of the season. Ashia has achieved enough already to justify our prediction that "unlike other competitors for whom success at Atlanta seemed to be the culmination of their careers, Ashia's achievement has been seen as being the launching-pad of her own". Injury-permitting, Ashia is favoured to be one of the star performers in the world championships to be held in August in Seville (Spain).

In this light, we are also persuaded to look at the progress of other personalities and activities on which we have reported over the past two years: the results are most encouraging.

My very first contribution to New African - in October 1996 - drew special attention to heavyweight boxers Herbie Hide and Henry Akinwande, both of whom are now even more prominent at the top of the international division.

Hide, who seemed to have been edged out of the main picture, bounced back to regain by knockout the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) version of the world title.

Yet Akinwande, who has moved to the USA, seems to be the better-placed for overall recognition. In spite of a disappointing challenge to the WBC champion Lennox Lewis in which he was disqualified, Henry has been nominated as the official challenger to the winner of the bout between Lewis and Evander Holyfield in New York on 13 March for all three of the more widely recognised World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) crowns.

Some sporting events have a less public profile. Nevertheless the proliferation of satellite and cable television channels provides an opportunity to catch up on activities overlooked by the mass media - provided that you have the time and patience to spend switching channels.

Imagine my surprise in suddenly catching a glimpse of body-builder Gilbert Alaskadi-Gondje, whom we featured in our June 1997 issue with the caption "determination is built into Gilbert's character", winning praises at the British national championships in Nottingham.

It is not only the sportsmen/women who have justified our faith. Almost all of the young ladies mentioned in the "Stars in Our Eyes" feature on Africans in British television in April 1997 have continued to impress.

Weather-girl Femi Oke is probably in the public eye most often, and the "Brothers and Sisters" soap-opera in which Patti Boulaye stars has lasted longer than was anticipated.

Thandie Newton, of Zimbabwean origin, has made the transition to big-screen stardom (see her playing the key role of Beloved in the recently released epic film of the same title, in which Oprah Winfrey's Harpo company initially denied the Ghanaian actress/writer Akosua Busia credit for writing the screenplay). Roli Okorodudu has also progressed in theatre/television drama.

Although they are seen less often on television than hitherto, Lisa I'Anson and Crystal Rose continue to have a 'high presence' on the entertainment scene. The latter has had her own regular night at Caesar's/Diamonds nightclub complex at Streatham in south-west London.

It was there just before Christmas that - as previewed in our December 1998 issue - the unprecedented abundance of African beauty contests led to the promotion of the Miss Queen of Africa competition under the African Network umbrella of Dennis Tawiah, Mavis Amankwah, Justina Mutale, Elenor Ofori and Fatou Salle.

Before an audience of "beautiful people" from fashion, sport and music, Rebecca Arthur, a 29-year-old music student from Sierra Leone won the Ms Queen of Africa prize. Fatima Coker, a 22-year-old accountancy student from The Gambia came second, while Mambwe Kamanga, 16, also a student from Zambia, came third.

Rebecca, who must have some misgivings about taking the prize-trip to her country of origin just at this moment (on account of the upsurge of war there), hopes to become a professonal musician. Meanwhile, she is keeping her hand in with some hair-styling and modelling in central London, to where she moved from Sierra Leone just under two years ago.

Fatima Coker's ambition is to become The Gambia's first woman accountant-general while Mambwe Kamanga's eyes are set on being a lawyer and top model.

Concern over the influx of African prostitutes into Europe highlighted in our February 1998 issue, attracted the attention of British national television which expressed particular worry about the large number of young women travelling singly who had disappeared without apparent trace since arriving at airports in Europe.

Yet the issue may be submerged by the tide of prostitutes sweeping into Western Europe from the economically-depressed former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. Indeed the greater problem may be of African women being drawn to the East to fill that market, in which, with the comparative lack of communications, it would be even more difficult to trace them. That is a problem in itself.

Just to show how up-to-date the New African is with even its historical research - one month after our feature on William Shakespeare in November 1998, an extensive poll of BBC radio listeners voted him as being the greatest Englishman of the last thousand years.

That would seem to justify the answer implied in our concluding question as to whether the pen was mightier than the politician. As Shakespeare himself might have written - "Now is the winter of discontent made glorious summer"... by news of these excellent achievements.